Seven Minutes in Hell
by MariJuanaBreath
Summary: A game of Seven Minutes in Heaven at an inter-house unity party crosses boundaries that should have never been crossed, sparking new attractions. Rated M for Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Language, and Sensitive Topics.
1. Time to Mingle

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome to my new fanfic! This fanfiction will have romances between Harry/Pansy and Draco/Hermione. Neither of them will have more weight than the other, they are equal romances in this fanfiction! Also, Ron will not appear often in this story. Do not leave a review only talking about how Ron is hardly involved and yelling at me to involve him more.**

 **This fanfiction is rated M for Scenes of a Sexual Nature and Language, so if these offend you, please do not move forward.**

 **I hope you enjoy! xx  
**

 **Disclaimer: **

**All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

"Oh come on 'Mione. You've been studying like crazy ever since we got back to school. You'd think after surviving a wizarding war that you'd have learned to loosen up a little."

Harry winced at Ron's words as though he had been painfully struck in the back of the head. He glanced over to where Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room, pouring over books and parchment at the lone study table. Ron sat beside him on the couch, munching on some snacks Mrs. Weasley had sent him, completely oblivious to the war he was about to start.

Hermione's quill stilled in her hand and her lips thinned into a tight line of annoyance. Harry jumped in before she had the chance to say anything.

"I think what Ron is _trying_ to say, Hermione," Harry shot Ron a warning look, whose ears instantly turned red as he noticed his own mistake. "Is that yes, we did win the wizarding war and yes, school is very important. But we can still have fun sometimes. You want your last year Hogwarts to be fun, don't you?"

Ron nodded vigorously beside Harry. Hermione huffed at this, turning her eyes on them.

"Did it ever occur to you that reading _is_ fun for me?" she said, glaring over at them. "Just because I don't want to go to a party doesn't mean I'm not having fun."

"Well, weren't you the one saying just a few weeks ago that we needed to try and be friendlier with the other houses, because that's what Dumbledore would have wanted?" Ron piped in, his fingers sticky from his snacks. "This is the perfect opportunity for that."

Harry stiffened at the mention of Dumbledore, though he tried to keep himself composed. He knew Ron was just trying to get Hermione to come out, but it was still difficult to hear Dumbledore's name used in the past tense. He was trying very hard to get over it, though.

Hermione tapped her quill against her parchment, contemplating Ron's words.

"Just come this one night," Harry said, when Hermione seemed hellbent on ignoring them as she began scribbling away at her parchment again. "If you don't like it, we'll leave you alone for the rest of the year."

Hermione looked up from her work to glance over at the two boys sitting on the couch. She eyed them both, noting their pleading faces. She had always preached about inter-house unity to them, and she knew that it was important to Harry to do what Dumbledore had wanted, but tonight she had wanted so badly to stay in and work on her Transfiguration essay. She had been sure that she would have been able to deflect them if they came and asked her to come to the party with them. But now she was beginning to feel herself give in.

"Is Ginny going?" Hermione asked. If she was going to go to an inter-house unity party that was hosted in the Slytherin common room, she at least wanted another female there with her.

Harry nodded and just as he did so Ginny came down the stairs, her hair brushed and pulled back into a long ponytail. She gave him a little smile but instead of sitting next to him she remained standing in the middle of the room. Things had been a little uncomfortable between them since the end of the war. Without the possibility of death hanging on their doorsteps, they had fallen back into the roles that they had played before. Harry was awkward and shy and Ginny was just Ron's little sister.

Though despite their faltering feelings for each other, they had stayed together, whereas Ron and Hermione had quickly fallen apart. They had started bickering about one thing or another, which led to a big fight that in turn broke them up, though they seemed to be doing much better now that they weren't in a relationship.

"So will you come?" Ron asked.

Hermione tapped her quill again, looking between each of their faces before finally she sighed in defeat and nodded her head.

* * *

Draco scowled and glanced up from his homework when he had felt someone watching the top of his bent head. Pansy and Blaise stood before him, watching him intently and waiting for him to notice them. Blaise was calm as ever, his features sharp and his eyes dark, whereas Pansy had a smile on her face that told Draco that she wanted something from him, though she was going to pretend that she didn't.

Draco's stormy eyes bounced from Pansy to Blaise and back again before he cocked a curious eyebrow.

"Yes, Pansy?" He had barely gotten the words out before Pansy was pulling out the chair next to him and sitting herself down. Blaise followed her lead, taking the chair on the other side of the table. Draco had a feeling he wouldn't be getting any more homework done.

"Oh, nothing. We were just wondering where you were." Pansy said, looking at her nails and feigning disinterest.

Draco let out a heavy sigh, putting his quill down and leaning back into his chair, crossing his arms.

"Either tell me what you want Pansy, or I'm just going to ignore you." Draco threatened.

Pansy dropped her hand into her lap and looked up at him with that same smile.

"Well, as you know, there's a party going on tonight in the Slytherin common room, an inter-house unity party-"

Draco interrupted her with a groan and an eyeroll. "Not this again," he grumbled under his breath, picking up his quill.

Pansy's smile vanished and was replaced with an impatient scowl.

"You're going to this party Draco, we've already decided it." She said, gesturing towards Blaise. "You need to learn to talk to people. Interact and make amends. And by people, I don't mean us and 'every now and again Millicent.' I mean people from other houses. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw _and_ Gryffindor."

Draco sneered at the very idea. Him? Talking to people from other houses? And to Gryffindors no less. After the war, he was surprised to even come back to Hogwarts at all, let alone converse with the people from there. He glanced at Blaise, as though looking for help, but Blaise only shrugged.

"It might be good for you mate. Just show up, have a few conversations, drink a little and go to sleep. Easy."

Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. Yeah, easy.

* * *

Harry and Ron stood rather impatiently at the bottom of the winding staircase, waiting for Hermione and Ginny to come back down. Ron was nervous that when Hermione came down, she would begin to yell at him for dragging her into this, but Harry was nervous for other reasons. He agreed with Ron that Hermione should come and try to have fun, and he also agreed that Ron had a point when he said that they needed to work on Dumbledore's goal of inter-house unity, but that didn't mean that Harry was jumping for joy at the idea of spending an evening with the Slytherins.

He was dreading putting on a fake smile and pretending to get along with them, but this was for Dumbledore. He had to keep reminding himself of that. This was for Dumbledore.

Hermione and Ginny finally came downstairs, and when they got to the bottom Hermione glanced over at her abandoned textbooks sitting on the desk with longing. She shifted on her feet and crossed her arms, looking ready to say something before Ron swooped in and stopped her.

"Alright, ready to go?"

Ron turned on his heels and started towards the portrait hole, leaving the others no choice but to follow him. Ginny fell into step beside Harry and they glanced at each other before awkwardly looking away. Hermione came behind them, huffing to herself at the inconvenience of it all.

They had only reached the third floor when they started seeing groups from other houses heading for the dungeons. A group of Ravenclaws, including Cho Chang, passed them, talking excitedly to each other.

"There are going to be people from every house there," Ginny observed as they descended further into the castle.

Down in the dungeons it was colder than the rest of the castle, and the group hurried their way towards the Slytherin common room. Their nerves had gotten the better of them, even Ron had become quiet. When they reached the portrait hole, all four of them stopped in front of it.

Harry glanced over the snake in the portrait, that was curled around a single rock and looking at them with emerald eyes.

"Does anyone know the password?" Hermione asked, wanting to get a peak at the common room. In their second year when they had taken a Polyjuice potion to sneak into the Slytherin common room and interrogate Draco, Hermione hadn't been able to come due to a mix up of hairs. She had always remained a little curious about what it looked like.

"I know it," a voice said from behind them.

They turned to see a timid Hufflepuff boy standing behind them with two others flanked by his sides. He stepped ahead of them and cleared his throat before whispering the password. The snake raised its large head and hissed at them, obviously annoyed that they were not from Slytherin, but none-the-less opened the portrait hole for them.

As the portrait swung open, the Hufflepuffs disappeared into the opening, followed quickly by Ron, then Harry, then Ginny and then Hermione.

The fire in the large stone fireplace had been enchanted green and instantly warmed the room from the chill of the hall. Even without the fire, Hermione would have suspected that the number of people in the room would have warmed them up just as well. It seemed as though multiple groups from different houses had already showed up and were beginning to drink the large selection of alcohol from a long table set up at one side of the room.

* * *

Draco combed a hand through his blonde hair, staring into the mirror before him with intent eyes. He felt his nerves jiggling around inside of him at the idea of facing a room full of people that were not from his own house. He tried fixing his hair again, as though it would calm him down.

He could hear the sound of the other students upstairs already mingling. Draco was certain the Hufflepuffs had already showed up, always desperate to make new friends, and he had seen a few Ravenclaws whilst he had been heading down the stairs into the boys dormitory to get ready about fifteen minutes ago. He knew that some Gryffindors had turned up as well because when he had been down in the dormitory, because there had been a brief but heavy silence that filled the common room at one point.

Draco shook out his hair again before a knock on the door caught his attention. He glanced over just as Blaise had pushed the door open and came inside, obviously looking for him.

"Pansy sent me to come get you," Blaise said. "She said not to let you stay down here all night."

Draco tried to come up with some excuse as to why he shouldn't go upstairs. He couldn't say that he was sick because Pansy would never believe him, but he wanted to stall for as long as possible before he had to endure this night. He turned back to the mirror, running a hand through his hair again.

"Tell her I'm fixing my hair."

Blaise smirked and Draco caught it in the mirror. Blaise leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest, looking amused.

"She said you'd say that. She also said that when you did say that, I'm supposed to threaten to cut your hair all off, so you'd never have to fix it again."

Draco scowled into the mirror, patting down his hair before he finally sighed and turned to look at him.

"Hair's all done," Draco grumbled as he pushed past the other Slytherin, who shook his head and followed him back up to the common room.

The place was packed and people had already begun opening butterbeers, and small groups of different houses had already begun to form. Pansy seemed to have been waiting for them, because she came through the crowd towards them the moment they emerged from the staircase.

"Glad to see you could make it," Pansy said with a little smirk.

Draco glared at her. "Don't threaten my hair again."

Pansy laughed at this, not seeming intimidated at all.

The three Slytherins remained in the corner of the room, watching the rest of the houses avoid each other. Every now and again there would be a Ravenclaw who began to talk to a Gryffindor, or a Hufflepuff who would strike up a conversation with a Ravenclaw, but for the most part the little groups remained within their own houses.

Draco pushed his hands into the pockets of his slacks as Pansy and Blaise talked about something or another, but he couldn't remain quiet for long. Pansy was the one that had forced them to come to this thing, and yet here she was avoiding the rest of the houses just like everybody else.

He cut Blaise off mid-sentence, glancing over at Pansy with a raised eyebrow.

"So Pansy, why don't you go and, you know, mingle with the other houses? Get that inter-house unity spirit going."

Blaise scowled at him and quickly said before Pansy could answer, "You really need to learn to wait until other people are done talking before you jump in like that."

Draco barely gave Blaise a passing glance before he smirked at Pansy's hesitant expression.

Pansy's brown eyes fell on Draco and, noticing his mocking smirk, she thrust her chin up into the air with dignity. "Don't think I won't _Malfoy_ , I've had far more experience than you at things like this."

Draco snorted and jerked his chin towards the large crowd of their classmates. "Okay then, go mingle." It was spoken like a challenge and Pansy's eyes narrowed into slits.

She turned on her heels, eyeing the room at large as though surveying who she should talk to first. After a moment of stalling, Pansy glanced over her shoulder back at Draco and Blaise.

"Aren't you two going to mingle as well?"

Draco looked at Blaise, who looked back at him, before they both turned back to Pansy. "No, I think we'll stay here. You do, of course, have more experience than we do."

Pansy glowered at them before looking over the room again. Suddenly, a slow smirk began to come over her features.

"We should fix that then," she said before disappearing into the crowd of people.

Draco and Blaise shared a look of alarm.

"What did she mean by that?" Blaise said, sounding a little uncomfortable. Knowing Pansy, it couldn't have been anything good.

They only had to wait a few moments before they saw Pansy's head bob into view as she stood up on the table by the fireplace. She cleared her throat and then placed her wand at the base of her neck, instantly magnifying her voice over the low rumble of chatter in the room.

"Alright everyone! We're going to play a game, since everyone is doing oh-so-well at mingling with other houses," people could have slipped on her sarcasm. "Everyone, form a circle around the fireplace!" With a wave of her wand, the leather couches and armchairs slid to the sides of the room and out of the way, allowing for a large space in the middle of the common room.

It was almost as if Pansy had them under some type of spell, because to Draco's surprise, everyone followed her orders without so much as a grumble of annoyance. Perhaps it was simply because people were feeling awkward and were glad to have someone in charge to tell them what to do. Blaise began to move with the crowd and from across the way Draco could see the golden trio seating themselves down on the ground as well.

Draco broke away from the crowd and pushed his way towards Pansy. He grabbed her sleeve and gave it a tug, forcing her to look down at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed between clenched teeth. Pansy merely smirked down at him.

"Mingling, like you told me to."

Draco glowered. "But did you have to involve all of us in it?"

"Go find a seat." Pansy ordered, pulling her sleeve out of his grasp and straightening again.

Sighing in annoyance, Draco turned to survey the room. People had already sat themselves down, knees touching because there was hardly enough room, in a large circle all facing towards where Pansy stood. Pansy waved him away when he didn't move and Draco found himself, reluctantly, seated between Blaise and Loony Lovegood.

Pansy reached over to where a Hufflepuff boy sat and took the hat from his head, waving her wand over the opening as though she were going to pull a rabbit out of it. "We've all been to a party before, and I'm sure everyone has played this game, so I want everyone to pick something that will define them and place it into the hat."

Whispers broke out amongst the crowd at the prospect of playing Seven Minutes in Heaven and Pansy smiled proudly at her idea. Everybody moved at once, reaching into their pockets and digging around for something that they could easily define as their own. Draco glanced at Blaise, who had already found an object and was clamping it tightly in his fingers, hidden from sight. With an eyeroll, Draco took off the ring that sat on his finger and rolled it around in his hand while Pansy went around collecting objects from the other students.

"When we have everyone's objects in the hat, I'll take out two of them, and whoever's objects I pull from the hat will go into the broom cupboard for seven minutes." Pansy stopped in front of Draco, rattling the hat of objects in front of him with a devious smile. "And don't pretend like the object isn't yours. I'm pretty sure I have a good idea of who put in what."

Draco stared up at her before he finally flicked his ring into the hat. Pansy moved onto Luna, who placed a pair of paper glasses into the hat. Hermione put a book, Harry put a snitch, Ginny put a hairpin with a goblin on it, and Ron put a chocolate wrapper.

When Pansy finally made it back around to stand in the middle, she shuffled the hat, mixing up the objects inside.

"You have to partake too, Miss. Parkinson," Draco spoke up, raising an eyebrow at her. Pansy stopped in her shuffling and gave him a look before she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine," she said, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a tube of lipstick. She tossed it into the hat.

Pansy gave it a final shake and the excited whispers that had erupted around the circle silenced themselves with anticipation. Her manicured fingers moved around the opening of the hat before she plunged her hand inside, groping around for an object. The anticipation buzzed in the air around them as they all waited to see which items she would take out.


	2. Trouble in Paradise

**Author's Note:**

 **I'm a little conflicted on how I should write the story... do you guys like it with third person or should I focus each chapter on one person's point of view? Leave a review and let me know! If I don't hear anything I'll just keep doing it in third person!**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Draco leaned back on his hands, his heart picking up a little bit when he saw Pansy withdraw the first item from the hat. For a split second, Draco had feared that she had pulled out his ring, but a moment later he noticed the necklace dangling from her fingers and he let his muscles relax. Beside him he heard Blaise let out a breath of relief.

A small Hufflepuff girl with blonde hair stood to her feet slowly and Pansy offered her back her necklace with a smile. The girl took the necklace back, clutching it tightly in her fingers, her face burning a bright red.

The Hufflepuff girl stood to the side while Pansy jiggled the hat again before plunging her hand back in. Draco stiffened again and Blaise seemed to hold his breath. An object came out of the hat. A playing card, the Jack of Hearts. A Ravenclaw boy stood to his feet across the way from Draco and they all relaxed again.

Just as the two headed towards the broom cupboard, the Ravenclaw boy leading the way with an amused smirk and the Hufflepuff girl blushing furiously behind him, another figure rose from the circle and headed towards the table of alcohol. Draco raised an interested eyebrow and followed Hermione's figure, surprised to see that she was drinking. He couldn't remember a time that he had ever seen Miss. Perfect take a sip of alcohol.

Blaise bumped Draco with his elbow and Draco turned his attention away from Hermione.

"Jack's had it out for Jena for years," Blaise whispered, his eyes cast towards the now closed door to the broom cupboard.

"Jena is…?" Draco prodded.

Blaise rolled his eyes impatiently. "The girl that just went into the closet with Jack. Do you ever pay attention to anything?"

Draco shrugged a shoulder, already growing bored with this conversation, and turned his gaze back towards the other occupants of the room. The excited whispers and conversations had started up again. Hermione came back to the circle and sat herself down next to Harry, and that's when things got a little interesting.

Ron turned to look at Hermione and a confused expression came over him as he caught sight of the cup of alcohol in Hermione's hand.

"Hermione, what are you doing with that?" Ron's voice carried over the murmured conversations about the room.

Hermione seemed to bristle at this. Obviously, she wasn't having a very relaxed time at this party, and Ron's ignorance wasn't helping her. She sent him a scowl, though not as deadly as the one she usually sent Draco's way, and huffed loudly.

"I'm drinking _Ronald_ , what does it look like I'm doing? Weren't you the one telling me I needed to _lighten up_ , because apparently I'm so uptight and don't know how to have any fun."

Harry shifted uncomfortably beside Hermione, who had now attracted the attention of multiple people in the room, including Draco and Blaise.

"Trouble in paradise?" Blaise said under his breath, giving a deep chuckle as he watched the Gryffindors bickering with amusement.

Ron's ears had turned a nice shade of red when he realized their argument was now the center of attention at the party. He clenched his teeth together and leaned forward, as though he could keep the attention off of them if he blocked their view.

"I'm just saying, you don't normally drink that stuff, and now you've already had two cups. What if you can't handle it?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, her own cheeks tinging a bit pink, before she huffed again. "I can take care of myself."

There was a moment's pause and it seemed like that would be the end of the conversation. Ron leaned away, looking quite miserable, and Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny, talking to them about something in a much lower tone. The conversations around them that had suddenly gone quiet during their argument resumed and Draco was forced to admit that that would be the end of the entertainment.

"I'd hate to admit it, but I got to agree with Weasley," Blaise said, causing Draco to look at him. "I've never seen Granger drink before. It'd be quite funny to see her overdo it."

Draco smirked at the idea of Hermione wobbling around or, even better, getting sick. It would finally be something that Hermione wasn't good at.

"Since everyone seems to be in a more playful mood, I propose we play another game to pass the time while the two lovebirds in the closet do whatever it is that they're doing," Pansy spoke up, clapping her hands together to gather everyone's attention. Conversations slowly died down again as everyone turned to look at her. The alcohol seemed to slowly be setting in, and the tension that had been in the air at the beginning of the night was edging away.

"This can't be good," Draco muttered to Blaise, who nodded in agreement.

"It's a simple game," Pansy began, a sly smile on her pink lips. "Everyone will fill up their cups and we'll go around the room. Someone will say something they've never done, and if you have done it, you take a drink."

Another burst of excited murmurs went through the circle. Everyone seemed to be smiling with interest and anticipation.

"Everyone go and get your drinks," Pansy commanded and the whole room began to move.

Those who already had drinks got up to refill theirs and those without stood to collect one. Draco pulled himself to his feet along with Blaise and caught sight of Hermione getting up. Ron grabbed her by the hand, as though to keep her seated, but Hermione waved him off with an annoyed look on her face.

"Oh go _away_ Ron, I want to have fun too. I'll be fine." Hermione said.

Draco moved towards the table, grabbing a cup of Firewhiskey before he headed back to his seat. Hermione walked by him and Draco, unable to help himself, smirked over at her.

"Feeling a bit adventurous tonight Granger?" he chided.

She threw him a glare but surprisingly said nothing as she moved past him. Draco scowled, she had taken all the fun out of taunting her, before he sat himself down. Luna came wandering towards him, sitting down and sipping from her cup, which was completely empty.

Draco raised an eyebrow towards her, scooting a bit away from her.

"This is already making my brain go fuzzy," Luna said in a dreamy voice, casting him a small smile and motioning towards the empty cup.

Draco tried his best to ignore her.

Hermione walked over to Pansy and stood awkwardly at her side, waiting for Pansy to notice her. When she finally did, Hermione shifted on her feet and held out her wrist watch for Pansy to see.

"I believe it's been seven minutes," Hermione said.

Draco snorted into his drink. Leave it to Hermione to be Miss. Punctuality, even during a drinking game. Pansy shot Draco her signature 'look' that told him to keep his mouth shut before she turned to Hermione with a little smile.

"I believe you're right Hermione." Pansy's eyes landed on Draco. "Draco, be a dear and let the two love birds out of the closet."

Draco scowled, looking ready to protest, before Blaise spoke up.

"Yeah Draco, be a moose and get off your ass."

Draco shook his head before he got back up and went over to the broom cupboard. He thought about knocking but changed his mind and reached for the handle, throwing the door open. Everyone turned in hopes of catching the two making out, but the only thing they saw was Jena, the girl from Hufflepuff, exiting the cupboard with her head high, and Jack rubbing his cheek, as though he had been slapped multiple times in the span of seven minutes.

Pansy welcomed to the two back into the circle while Draco closed the door and came back to his seat. Pansy had already grabbed the hat again and was shuffling the contents, looking overjoyed.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" she said, and Jena and her friends giggled at Jack's irritated look. "Now, who's next?"

Pansy's hand disappeared into the hat and she moved some objects around before her fingers curled around a smooth object. She withdrew it, holding it up for all to see. The golden snitch quivered in her fingers as though trying to escape her grasp. Pansy glanced around the circle and Draco's eyebrows shot up, leaning forward to glance towards Harry, whose cheeks had tinted. Ginny turned her eyes away when Pansy tossed Harry the snitch. He caught it and Pansy plunged her fingers back into the hat.

There was a moment of silence as Pansy dug around in the hat before her fingers curled around another object and she lifted it up for everyone to see.

The small, lip gloss container glinted in the firelight and Pansy's eyes immediately fell on Draco and Blaise, who both smirked at her in wild amusement.

Draco and Blaise tried to hold their laughter back, but it was nearly impossible. The two were clenching their mouths shut and Blaise tried to look anywhere but at Pansy.

Rolling her eyes and trying to act calm, Pansy tossed the hat towards Draco, who barely caught it in time before it hit him in the face.

"You two are children," Pansy said to them, ruffling Draco's hair as she walked past them. Draco grumbled and swatted her hand away, sending her an annoyed glare.

He looked over at Harry, who glanced towards Ginny as though to confirm that he was allowed to follow Pansy. Ginny wasn't paying any attention, so Harry lumbered up to his feet and started after Pansy towards the cupboard.

"Remember Pans, seven minutes!" Draco and Blaise let out a laugh when the cupboard closed behind them.

* * *

Harry would have been lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He didn't know what to expect from Pansy Parkinson when locked in a dark closet with her for seven minutes. She was confident, even in the way that she walked, and had an attitude that Harry wasn't used to. When the door closed behind him, he leaned his back against the cold stone wall.

Pansy, on the other hand, wasn't really that nervous, more so the fact that she didn't know what to do with herself. She had a bit of a reputation with the guys, especially those in Slytherin, and she was sure that Harry would have heard this rumor at some point or another in their Hogwart's career. It wasn't exactly a secret. She was sure he was looking at her through the dark right now, calling her a swine and other unpleasant things.

"So, um, I'm not really sure what to do," Harry admitted, rubbing his hands down the front of his pants.

He didn't know why she unnerved him so much, or perhaps it was merely the whole concept of playing seven minutes in heaven that unnerved him. He hadn't really ever been with anyone besides Ginny, besides a few kisses shared with Cho Chang.

"Whatever we want to I guess," Pansy said, crossing her arms over her chest. She supposed he could be cute, in a shy and boyish kind of way. Pansy herself had never been interested in shy boys. She had always found it more exciting when they were unpredictable and perhaps a little full of themselves.

But shy could be cute too, she considered. Most of the guys in Slytherin lacked those types of emotions. Pansy had honestly never been with a guy who had any sort of good intentions, and perhaps that was a little sad.

Harry, using what was left of his Gryffindor courage, had taken a step towards Pansy in the dark. He had been debating what he should do with these seven minutes, and the thought crossed his mind that if he were to kiss Pansy, would Ginny even mind? They had been so distant with each other lately, he couldn't bring himself to imagine that she'd even care at all. Besides, it was just a game, right? And he couldn't lie and say he wasn't curious.

"I suppose we should just get this over with," He said, trying to act nonchalant, licking his lips nervously and watching her carefully to gauge her reaction. Perhaps it was merely the alcohol taking hold of him.

Pansy eyed him carefully, as though considering her options, before suddenly her hand reached up and brushed Harry's hair aside. The action startled him, but he forced himself to remain still. When he didn't pull away, Pansy lifted herself up onto her toes and brushed her lips against his.

The air seemed to shift suddenly. The world didn't explode, and it didn't particularly feel awful for either of them.

They both paused, as though momentarily taken aback by Pansy's actions.

It was Harry that moved first, reaching over and placing a hand on Pansy's hip, pulling her a bit closer to him. She didn't protest and he lifted his other hand up to tilt her head back, leaning down and capturing her lips with his again.

Pansy let out a small gasp of surprise when his fingers began to draw little patterns on her hip. She knew she should have felt repulsed at the very idea of kissing boy wonder, but she simply didn't. He was so gentle, with the way his hands moved and the way his lips kissed her. Pansy had never been with someone who had been so gentle before, and the feeling of it all intrigued her.

She knew she should not want to kiss him. She was thankful for the darkness of the closet, or else he'd be able to see the tint of color in her cheeks. Her hip tingled where his finger was making patterns on her. Who did that? Drew on the person they were kissing with invisible ink? It was almost possessive, and Pansy had never felt more enticed by anything in her life.

Harry felt a sense of urgency overcome him, as though it had just dawned on him that this was probably the only time he would ever be able to do this. To kiss someone that he normally wouldn't have ever kissed.

He took a step forward, pressing himself against her. His hand reached up and touched her cheek, jerking back a little at the heat of it. Pansy was extremely flushed and that excited him for some unknown reason.

Pansy's hands wound up into his messy hair, pulling him down to her and he allowed himself to be pulled down. His teeth bit down and tugged on her lip, a violence and urgency that she wasn't expecting, before suddenly it was gone again, replaced with gentle pressure. Harry's kisses were gentle and needy, urgent and calm all at the same time.

Her fingers trailed through his hair, down the sides of his face, tugging at the collar of his shirt. If Draco and Blaise knew what she was doing, she couldn't imagine how they would react.

Harry grabbed her hands from pulling at the buttons on his shirt and lifted them above her head, pinning her successfully to the wall. He felt guilty for wanting this as much as he did, and he tried hard not to think about it. Everything was just so different from Ginny and exciting. While he had been with Ginny multiple times, she had never made the sounds that Pansy was making. Ginny hardly ever gave back as much as Harry put out, mostly because of the awkward tension between them.

This however, this felt natural and smooth and neither of them had to think too much about anything. It was just a game.

Harry's lips trailed down Pansy's neck and she arched her back into him, feeling his teeth grazing her feverish skin. The feeling of the end was bearing down on them. Any moment now someone would be coming towards the door, getting ready to open it, and they had to appear as though nothing had happened.

Groaning in frustration, Harry lifted his head and placed a gentle, firm kiss on Pansy's lips, feeling a sense of urgency as their time ticked down somewhere outside the room. Finally, he pulled away.

Pansy tried not to look too disappointed, though she could still feel the unmistakable want in the pit of her stomach. Harry started fixing himself up and she did the same, running her fingers through her hair and adjusting her shirt. She could still feel him all around her as she pulled out her wand and cast a quick glamour charm on her neck, just in case he had left behind any evidence of what they had done.

"I'm sorry…" Harry started in a whisper before clearing his throat and speaking louder. "I'm sorry that there wasn't more time."

The sentence threw her off for a second, as it wasn't anything that she was expecting him to say, before she smirked over at him. She reached her hand up to touch his hair again, even though she knew she shouldn't, and trailed her fingers down his strong jaw. His eyes watched her behind his wire-rimmed glasses before suddenly she was pulling her hand away and the door to the cupboard was being opened by some boy in Slytherin.

Pansy exited the cupboard first with Harry coming after her and just like that, it was like it had never happened. Pansy walked towards where Draco and Blaise sat, asking with a calm, even tone if she had missed anything important, and Harry wandered towards Hermione and Ron, becoming his best friend's sister's boyfriend all over again.


	3. The Dark Prince and the Drunken Princess

**Author's Note:**

 **I just wanted to thank everyone who have already followed and favorited this story! I'm glad you guys like it and I'll do my best to keep it interesting for you.**

 **A special thank you to those who have reviewed and left your opinions on the writing. It really means a lot and I'm doing my best to keep your suggestions in mind. Enjoy the new chapter!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

A Ravenclaw girl went first. Draco watched as she swirled the contents of her drink around, biting her lip and thinking. While she sat debating, Draco turned to look over his shoulder at the closed cupboard door. It had been two minutes since Pansy and Harry went in and for some reason, Draco felt anxious. He couldn't think of what the two could possibly be doing.

Ginny didn't seem too bothered as she chatted with Hermione and her brother, though her drink stayed firmly away from her mouth. Hermione kept glancing towards the cupboard, a look on her face that matched the anxiety that Draco felt.

"Okay, I got one," the Ravenclaw girl said with a little smile on her lips. Draco turned away from the cupboard and tried to focus on the game at hand. "Never have I ever had sex in the Prefect's bathroom."

The Prefect's bathroom had been a popular spot for most couples to hook up in. It was secluded and hidden behind a tapestry that needed a password in order for the door to be revealed, and even if someone could guess the password, it only allowed access to those with a Prefect badge.

Draco, Blaise and multiple Slytherin Prefects raised their cups to take a drink, along with a few Ravenclaws, a couple of Hufflepuffs and one Gryffindor- Ginny Weasley. Draco caught eyes with one of the Ravenclaws, a petite thing with dark hair. A blush crept up her cheeks and she looked away from him quickly and he couldn't help the smirk that overcame his features. Hermione didn't drink from her cup and neither did Ron.

"Okay Lily, your turn," the Ravenclaw girl who had never had sex in a bathroom said, looking towards a Hufflepuff girl with blonde pigtails who hadn't taken a sip from her drink.

Lily from Hufflepuff hesitated before sitting up straighter, gathering her courage. "Alright… Never have I ever had sex at all."

Blaise snorted into his cup as he lifted it for another drink. Draco was just about to take a drink as well when he caught sight of Hermione turning to look away from the group. With a heavy blush, she took a sip from her drink behind her back and Draco almost dropped his own cup in surprise. But he wasn't the only one who had noticed. Ron beside her began to sputter and turn incredibly red all over.

"Hermione…?"

Everyone turned to look at her and a large smirk came over Draco's face. He was thoroughly enjoying this while Hermione patted at her hair as though to distract herself.

"If you didn't want to know you shouldn't have looked at me," she muttered harshly at Ron, without looking him in the eyes.

Ron had just opened his mouth to say something else, perhaps to sputter some more nonsense of disbelief, when Draco jumped in quickly.

"So, who's next?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the cupboard door opened and out came Pansy and Harry. Everyone turned to look at them. Draco eyed them suspiciously, looking them over. Pansy looked as well and put together as always, her hair combed and her clothes straight and primed. Harry looked about as unkempt as always, with mussed up hair. Draco was certain Pansy had spent the last seven minutes giving Potter hell and this thought amused him.

Pansy came over and sat herself down with Draco and Blaise, asking about what she had missed whilst she had been locked away. Harry headed over to Hermione and the others. Hermione was looking at him with this look, as though she knew something that nobody else in the room did. Ginny hardly registered that Harry had returned.

"Well, we found out that Granger's had her cherry popped and most of the Prefects have taken the liberty of using the Prefect's bathroom for a bit of their own fun," Draco recapped to his raven haired friend, not noting how distracted she seemed.

"Hmm," was Pansy's only response as she reached over and took Draco's drink from him, taking a hurried gulp.

"What are you doing?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow towards her.

Pansy shrugged nonchalantly, handing the drink back. "Just… catching up."

"Alright, who goes next?" a Gryffindor with ringlet hair asked, reaching for the discarded hat with all the objects in it. Everyone seemed to settle in and the Gryffindor shook the contents and then reached her hand inside to grab an item. Two items came out of the hat, two Hufflepuffs, and into the cupboard they went.

"Wait, you've had your what popped?" Harry spoke up suddenly, turning on Hermione with a surprised look on his face. Hermione's face blushed and she took a long drink to avoid answering, but Ron did it for her.

"I know mate, that's what I said. Don't know if I believe it honestly-" but Ron never got to finish his sentence, and Lily never got to pick someone else to go after her in their game of Never Have I Ever before Hermione blew up.

Draco almost jumped at the rise in her voice. She had been whispering harshly all night but it seemed as though the amount of drinks she had been pounding were finally catching up to her.

"Looks like Granger is about to overdo it," Blaise whispered to Draco and Pansy, who both nodded their heads with their eyes glued to the scene. It was like watching a broomstick accident, they couldn't look away.

"What Ronald? Can't believe _what_? That someone would actually be interested in me? Or can't believe that I'd get to it before you?"

A few nervous chuckles echoed throughout the room and Ron's cheeks lit up even more, if that were possible.

"That's it, wasn't it? You thought you'd get to it before me and then when you found me at my lowest you'd swoop in and 'save me,' just like at the Yule Ball. Poor Hermione, no one would ever want to be with her, just like no one would ever ask her to the Yule Ball or see that she was a girl at all behind her books." Hermione was on a roll and Draco levitated another bottle of brandy over, watching the scene intently while pouring himself another drink.

Ron spluttered with anger and annoyance, as though he were trying to come up with some excuse. But it didn't seem like there was any and finally he snapped his mouth shut and just let her yell. She was really drunk and it didn't seem like arguing with her was going to get anyone anywhere.

"And guess what Ron, it wasn't just once. So if you're quite done, I'd like to continue with the night." And she took another drink.

Harry glanced around the room and momentarily locked eyes with Draco, who raised an eyebrow at him. Harry looked away and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Hermione maybe… maybe we should go," he whispered.

Pansy looked down at her drink, but her movement went unnoticed from the other occupants of the room.

"I'm fine Harry, really," Hermione said back, ducking her head so her hair fell to hide her face. Ron simmered beside her but said nothing and an awkward silence fell over the crowd.

Hermione's outburst was unexpected. This drunk, slightly aggressive Hemione was very new to everyone, including Ron and Harry it seemed. Draco lifted his cup of brandy and chugged the rest of it, smacking his lips loudly afterwards, which drew attention over to him.

"So, that was fun," Draco said sarcastically.

"Oh shut up Malfoy," Hermione spat, glaring over him. "Just pick the next items out of the hat already."

Pansy went to reach for the hat but Draco was quicker and he snatched it from her fingers. The room was fuzzy and their words seemed slurred.

"Well, if you're so eager Granger, then you can go next," Draco said, with a little smirk playing at his lips. Hermione glared over at him but didn't say anything as he plunged his hand in and wiggled it around. He tossed aside object after object and finally landed on something. He pulled the object out and held it up triumphantly.

His expression fell almost instantly when his eyes caught sight of the ring that he had pulled out. His stomach clenched up and he thought perhaps he'd be sick, and a gasp echoed around the room. Blaise started to laugh and Pansy bit down on one of her manicured fingers, her eyes twinkling with amusement. It seems her recent activity with Potter had been pushed from her mind.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Ron said, glaring at the ring in Draco's hand.

"This doesn't count," Draco said, sniffing with indifference and sliding his ring on his finger. "You can't pull your own."

"I did," Pansy said, raising an eyebrow at him and crossing her arms. "It counted then."

Blaise laughed again, clapping his hands together. He seemed completely overjoyed by this.

"Into the cupboard!" A Ravenclaw said, smiling behind her drink with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Hermione doesn't want to go into the cupboard with that," Ron said with a sneer.

"Hey, I'm lovely," Draco spat, glaring over at him. "It's me that doesn't want to go into the cupboard with _that_."

"Draco," Pansy's tone was warning and her eyes flashed dangerously. This was still an inter-house unity party and she wasn't going to let Draco ruin it for her. It had been going pretty well so far. Nobody had killed each other at least. "Just go into the damn cupboard."

Draco and Hermione stayed completely still, staring each other down as the closet opened and the two Hufflepuffs came out to rejoin the circle. Hermione was the one who moved first. With a heavy sigh, she set her drink down and tried to stand, stumbled a little and, with Harry's help, got to her feet. She waved him away once she was standing and stalked towards the cupboard door. Blaise slapped Draco's back with a large smile.

"Good luck mate."

Draco ran a hand through his hair and sighed before standing to his feet, passing the empty butterbeer bottle to Pansy and heading for heading for the cupboard as well. A few laughs sounded behind him and he tried his hardest not to turn around and hex someone.

He entered the cupboard behind Hermione and then the door closed behind them, plunging them into darkness.

* * *

"You just had to run your mouth, didn't you Malfoy?" Hermione said. Her words sounded slurred in her ears and she felt the floor swaying under her feet. How many drinks did she have? She hadn't realized how unsteady she was until she was alone. "You couldn't have let Parkinson do it. You always have to be the center of attention don't you?"

Draco's shadow moved on the other side of the room, but she couldn't see what he was doing. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest as though to protect herself. She was already furious and being alone with Draco wasn't helping anything. She was still fuming at the nerve Ron had to pick a fight with her in front of everyone at the party.

"Granger, do me a favor yeah? For once in your life, shut up." Draco spat from somewhere in the dark.

Hermione stiffened at his words and glared towards his general direction. She needed to get her frustrations out.

"That's rich, coming from you, the boy who couldn't shut up to save his own-"

It happened so quickly that it took her mind a minute to really understand what was happening. With a jerky movement, Draco reached out through the darkness towards her, grabbing for her sleeve. He missed the first time, his fingers grazing her elbow, before he tried again. The second time his fingers curled around the sleeve of her shirt and he was yanking her towards him.

The room tilted and Hermione felt herself stumble. She reached a hand out and grabbed onto something solid, Draco's shoulder, and steadied herself.

"Granger. Shut. Up." He hissed in her ear and her whole body froze.

His lips crashed down onto hers and she instantly stilled, stiffening under his grasp. She tried to think clearly but her mind was clouded. It was like everything was a dream and nothing was real. She had never felt like this before.

Hermione lifted her hand from his shoulder and her fingers swiped past his hair. She almost gasped at how soft it felt. She had never given his hair a second thought but now her fingers were curling into it, clutching it between her fingers.

Draco's body tingled with anticipation, as though he expected her to punch him again. But the punch never came and her lips were urgent against his.

They both tasted and smelled heavily of alcohol. Draco took a step forward and Hermione stumbled backwards into the wall. Their lips never detached from each other. Hermione whimpered and the noise jostled something inside of Draco. He pressed himself into her, but this movement seemed to yank her back to reality.

Hermione pushed his shoulders away, forcing him to take a step back. Their panting filled the room, it was the only sound they could hear. The room titled and Hermione could hardly keep track of Draco's face.

Draco quickly began to straighten himself out, fixing his robes and his hair. Pansy and Blaise could not find out about this, he thought with anxiety, they'd never let him hear the end of it. Hermione felt a panicked feeling overcome her as she watched Draco prep himself again. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but she didn't want it to be over so soon. She wanted to feel danger, to prove Ron wrong, to prove them all wrong. She wanted to know that they didn't know her and that she wasn't what they thought she was.

Her fingers reached out and grabbed the front of his robes, giving it a little tug. He seemed to freeze in front of her for only a second before his feet moved and he was in front of her again. The scent of alcohol and cologne moved up into her nose and her own head spun a little.

"You better not make me regret these next five minutes Malfoy," she whispered into the dark.

Draco stiffened under her fingers before his head was coming down again. His lips pressed against hers and Hermione felt her brain give way again. It was just a dream. It was just a game. It didn't mean anything at all. She could have been put in the closet with anyone, it just happened to be Draco.

Arching her back, Hermione tried to hide the moan that escaped her. Draco's lips were skilled, she could already tell. It did something to her, or maybe that was the alcohol. Her fingers reached up and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. Not once did he make a sound of approval and this seemed to frustrate her. Here she was, feeling like she was going to come undone and he was just as composed as when they'd been out of the cupboard.

Hermione titled her head, nudging her nose against his cheek to allow him access. Draco got the hint and his lips moved to her neck, skimming his lips along her flesh.

A noise she had never heard before escaped the back of her throat and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. How had things gotten so out of hand?

"I just want you to…" she stopped herself from finishing the rest of her sentence, but the damage was already done. Draco's lips froze and he stayed still for a moment, both of them breathing heavily.

"You want me to what Granger?" Draco's voice was husky and moving away. He had taken a step back. "Stop?"

Hermione felt his arms under her fingers and she tried to find his face in the dark, but she couldn't. She wondered what he was thinking. What was running through that blonde head of his. Stop? Did she want him to stop? She shifted on her feet and cleared her throat a little.

"No," she said under her breath. "I… I don't want you to stop."

Footsteps towards the cupboard door alerted both of them and Draco took a step back, watching her in the dark. Their eyes didn't leave each other until a knock on the cupboard echoed throughout the room, making both of them jump, even when they both heard the footsteps coming towards them.

"Times up you two," an unfamiliar voice called through the door. Neither of them moved.

* * *

Nobody stayed long, Pansy saw to that. Drinks were running low, people were beginning to stumble and their eyes were becoming bloodshot. Draco didn't say anything to anyone the rest of the night, silently drinking from his cups.

Sometime before sending everyone to bed, Pansy had tried to talk to Draco and realized he was completely distant. She had finally told him that he could leave the party and he hurried off to the boy's dormitory without a second glance back.

Pansy watched with worried eyes as he started, a little wobbly, down the stairs deeper into the ground to reach the boy's dormitory. After he was gone, she quickly found Blaise and told him it was time for everyone to leave. Blaise's eyes were a little bloodshot, he had been drinking a few extra cups as well. Pansy stood up on the table in the common room and called out for attention before informing them all that the party was over. Blaise ushered everyone out as Pansy waved her wand and the room began to clean itself. She tried to keep her eyes off Harry as he left, but she had to take a sneak peak at his back when he was almost out the door.

Blaise stumbled down the stairs to the boy's dormitory after saying goodnight to Pansy. He opened the door and blinked into the low light, catching sight of Draco. The blonde sat on his bed, his forehead pressed into his hands. A smell filled the room and it seemed like Draco had puked just a bit ago. His shirt lay on the floor in a heap.

Blaise scowled and walked over to him, reaching down and picking up the shirt before folding it and setting it on the top of Draco's trunk.

"Get some sleep mate," Blaise grumbled under his breath, trying to keep himself upright. He was suddenly exhausted.

Draco barely nodded but he didn't move. With a heavy sigh, Blaise grabbed his arm and pulled him up to his feet. They stumbled a little and Draco groaned, but Blaise ignored him. He peeled back the blankets and motioned for Draco to get in.

With a lot of effort, Draco collapsed onto his bed on his stomach, shoving his face into the pillow and hiding his face.

Blaise stared down at him, noting his messed up hair and shabby clothes. He hadn't really tried to hide the fact that him and Hermione definitely weren't arguing in that cupboard. Blaise shook his head with a sigh.

"Thanks," Draco suddenly mumbled from somewhere within his pillow. Blaise reached down and pat the blonde on the shoulder without saying anything and headed towards his own bed, collapsing down to finally go to sleep.

* * *

Hermione gripped Harry's arm to keep herself upright as they went up the numerous flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Ginny had already gone ahead of them, but it didn't seem like Harry minded that Ginny had left them behind. They hadn't spoken to each other all night, and though he felt extremely guilty for what he had done, he couldn't bring himself to feel too bad about it.

Neither of them spoke until they reached the portrait hole.

"Why, I'd say, someone has gotten themselves into a right mess," The Fat Lady said, glowering down at Hermione's limp form. "A young lady should never-"

Harry cut her off with the password. The Fat Lady huffed in reply but allowed them access without any other badgering.

"I want… a shower," Hermione grumbled, feeling a headache already beginning. Harry nodded and helped her to the girl's dormitory before he said goodnight and left her on her own.

Hermione gathered up a towel and bathrobe and went to the bathroom. She couldn't remember undressing, but suddenly she was under the warm water. She tried not to remember the feel of Draco on her, but it was almost impossible. He was everywhere. Even the smell of his cologne still plagued her mind. She reached her hands up and ran them through her wet hair, trying to clear her mind.

It happened so quickly. One minute she was showering and the next she was sitting in front of the toilet in her bathrobe, puking.

She hated drinking. She was never going to touch another drink for the rest of her life.


	4. It's Malfoy After All

**Author's Note:**

 **A bit of a slower chapter, as everyone is suffering hangovers, but the next few chapters are about to speed things up again, so be prepared!**

 **As always, thank you for your lovely comments and feedback! It keeps motivating me to go back to the computer, even when I've got finals to study for.**

 **Do you guys think I should try and name my chapters? Let me know if you've got a preference!**

 **xx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

The next morning was hell.

Draco and Blaise were woken sometime around 10am by Pansy, who threw open the door and came stomping in, demanding that they get up. Already she was dressed in her robes, her hair combed and styled and her make up on. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her manicured fingers against her arm, waiting for them to move.

"Pans, it's Saturday," Draco groaned, too exhausted to even sound irritated, as he shoved his head deeper into his pillow. He hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Visions of Hermione and the dark cupboard had swirled around his head and had kept him on the cusp of sleep all night.

Blaise only grunted from under his covers as any sort of indication that he was even alive. One of his tan arms was dangling off the side of his bed.

Pansy huffed as she stared down at the two useless beings in front of her. It wasn't like she had had a perfect night's rest either, but at least she wasn't moping around. Pansy scowled at the boys in front of her with impatience.

"This is what you get. I warned you before the party started not to drink too much. But did you listen to me? No. You didn't. Nobody ever listens to me."

"We're not listening to you now either, so stop talking and leave us alone," Blaise grumbled from his cocoon of blankets, his voice heavy and slurred with sleep and hangover.

This angered Pansy more than anything. She stalked over to Blaise's bed and grabbed the covers he was hiding under. With a hefty tug, she pulled the covers off of him and left them on a heap on the floor. Blaise groaned loudly, throwing an arm over his face in protest. Pansy rolled her eyes and headed for Draco's bed. Honestly, it was like they were children.

Draco's blankets were already on the floor, thrown off in frustration at some point during the night, and his head was securely under his pillow. Pansy grabbed for his bare shoulders and tried to yank him out of bed, but he had anticipated her move and clung to the mattress with both hands. Not only was he stronger than her but he was far more stubborn, and Pansy gave up fairly quickly.

With an irritated glance between the two boys, Pansy pulled out her wand, gave a fluid wave of it and crossed her arms. Two buckets appeared out of thin air, filling to the brim with water, before tipping their insides out onto the 'sleeping' occupants of the beds.

The shock hit Draco before the cold did and he jumped up, spluttering as water dripped down his drenched hair and neck. Blaise rolled off his bed in his struggle to defend himself against the invisible attacker, whacking his back against the hard floor with a solid _thud_.

"Get dressed. We're going to have breakfast." Pansy lifted her nose in the air and stalked out of the room, leaving the drenched boys to glare after her.

* * *

Despite having been mentally exhausted from all the over thinking Hermione had done and physically exhausted from puking for a good amount of the night, sleep did not welcome her into its arms when she finally made it to her bed. Even when she was sure that the party must have ended, the other girls that she shared her dorm with, besides Ginny, did not return that night, to which Hermione was thankful. She didn't know if she could handle answering anyone's questions or take anyone's stares, and Ginny was already passed out by the time she had crawled into bed.

By the time Hermione had begun to doze off, the sun was starting to filter in through the windows, and the door to the dormitory opened. No doubt the other girls were back from whatever night time adventure they had been on and were beginning to dress for the day, waking Ginny up in the process, telling her that Harry was waiting downstairs for her.

The moved about the room quietly and Hermione forced her head further under her blanket, pretending to be asleep.

When the girls were done changing they opened the door and exited out into the stairwell.

"Do you think we should wake her?" Harry's voice filtered up from downstairs and Hermione knew they were referring to her.

"No," _Ginny._ "I don't know if she'd want us to wake her up this early."

"What do you mean? Is she sick or something?" Harry's tone was worried and Hermione winced.

There was silence for a while and it seemed as though Ginny wasn't going to answer, and Hermione could already picture her giving him an annoyed look, as though the answer was not obvious as to why Hermione did not want to be disturbed. After a long pause, the portrait hole in the common room slid open and then was sliding shut. Hermione waited for a long time to make sure that she was alone before she pushed her sheets back and rolled out of bed. Her stomach was queasy and she wished she hadn't drank so much last night.

Getting out of bed, Hermione went to the bathroom she had spent most of last night in and stood in front of the mirror. After washing her face, she took a good look at herself, and outwardly groaned in frustration.

There, on the base of her neck, stood a dark blue blemish. It contrasted harshly with her skin and stuck out like a sore thumb. She couldn't believe she had walked out of the cupboard with _that_ on her neck. Why hadn't Draco said anything? Was he trying to make her look stupid?

Hermione rolled her eyes to herself. Of course he was trying to make her look stupid. He was always trying to make her look stupid.

Running her fingers through her hair, Hermione set about fixing herself up to look presentable for the day. She was not going to sit up in her room and let Draco have the satisfaction that he had gotten to her. Though she did wish, with a wince, that there was some way to cure her of this insufferable headache.

* * *

Blaise was able to make himself look a little put together, though there were still dark circles under his puffy eyes. Draco, on the other hand, couldn't have looked more run down. He had fixed his eyes so they weren't so bloodshot and he had brushed his teeth, with a little prodding from Blaise, but his hair was rumpled and messy and he hadn't even bothered with tying his tie.

Pansy waited for them in the common room and her unaffected attitude about last night only made Draco moodier. He dragged his feet between them as they headed for the Great Hall. Pansy and Blaise conversed in quiet tones, but Draco was still too mad about being splashed with water to even give them a second glance.

They walked into the Great Hall, where a few morning weekenders from the party were at their tables eating breakfast. Draco and Pansy's eyes instantly flew to the Gryffindor table, scanning it for two different people.

Harry was sat there with Ginny, but there seemed to be no Hermione or Ron in sight. Draco relaxed a little at this, not noticing how tense and curt Pansy's steps had become as she led the way to their own table.

No one spoke at the Slytherin table. Food was passed this way and that, jugs of pumpkin juice and milk were moving from one end of the table to the other, but nobody spoke. Most of them had been at the party last night, and just about all of them had had a few more drinks than they should have. All they needed this morning was silence.

Draco leaned his chin in the palm of his hand, closing his eyes. His fork hung loosely in his fingers over his empty plate.

Blaise went to pass Draco a plate of sausages and stopped when he noticed that Draco was almost passed out over his plate. He shot a look at Pansy, who reached over and took the plate of sausages before beginning to prepare Draco's plate for him. She loaded him up with three sausages, two hard boiled eggs, four pieces of buttered toast, one chocolate chip pancake and a cup of skim milk- always skim milk.

Pansy prodded Draco in the shoulder and he gave a start, jumping and holding up his fork as though it were his wand.

"Eat some," Pansy instructed, as Blaise tried to hold back an amused smirk, "You'll feel better." She said, before she began to cut into her pancakes and turned to talk to Marcus Flint.

Draco looked down at the prepared plate in front of him. It was nauseating to see it all, and yet his stomach grumbled with hunger. Draco reached for a hardboiled egg and busied himself with opening it. Pansy passed him the salt and again they fell into comfortable silence.

Pansy scowled a little as she piled food onto her own plate when she felt a strange sensation prickling up her spine. She looked over at Draco and Blaise, who were both intent on eating their food slowly so they wouldn't throw any of it up. After a quick scan of the room, Pansy's eyes landed on none other than boy wonder himself. Her eyes caught his and she watched him watch her for a long moment, her toast forgotten in her hand, half buttered. He looked like hell, with dark circles under his eyes and a baggy t-shirt on, but a boyish charm radiated off of him that she couldn't seem to ignore.

"Pansy?"

Pansy turned her gaze away from Harry as casually as she could, finishing buttering her toast.

"Yes Draco?" she asked as she busied herself with her task and forced herself not to blush.

Suddenly a cheek was leaning on her shoulder and Pansy glanced over at the mass of blonde hair that now obstructed her view of the boy's face.

"My head hurts," Draco grumbled into her shoulder, sounding much like a child.

"Tough," Pansy said, taking a bite of her toast.

This time, Blaise let out a little snort of amusement. Draco glared over at him.

* * *

Harry glanced up just as Hermione sat herself down beside him at the Gryffindor table. He was a little surprised to see her, as Ginny had said that she probably wouldn't be coming down for breakfast that morning.

"Hermione-" he started, but Hermione shook her head before he could say anything else, reaching for a jug of pumpkin juice and pouring herself a glass.

Harry watched as Hermione glanced at all the food around her and her nose crinkled in distaste. Ginny reached across him and offered her a piece of toast, which she seemed to hesitate at before taking with a grateful nod.

Looking over Ginny's head, Harry caught sight of the Slytherin table on the other side of the hall.

They looked about as alive as Harry and his friends did. All except for her. She looked as put together and prim and proper as he had ever seen her. He assumed she'd never allow for anything less. He couldn't help but wonder, briefly, what the Slytherin girl looked like without her fancy make up and expensive robes, though he wasn't sure why. He was with Ginny, and he loved Ginny he was sure of it. Last night was just a game. It didn't mean anything to anybody, least of all to her and him.

Suddenly Pansy was looking over at him, as though she had sensed him looking, and Harry found himself in a moment of locked eye contact before he quickly looked away, hoping to Merlin that Ginny or Hermione hadn't noticed him.

They finished their meal in silence, but as soon as Hermione was done she suddenly felt the very real need to be alone again. She barely said goodbye to her friends before she was getting up and rushing out of the room, hoping that the common room would still be empty. She just couldn't sit there with everyone and act like things were normal. Things were most certainly not normal.

She wanted to know why Draco had done it. Why did he have to go and kiss her like that? It was so out of character, for both of them, but he had started it. She just didn't understand why he had done it. It couldn't have just been to shut her up, could it? Maybe. She supposed. Plus, they had both been very drunk, at least Hermione had been.

Was that why she had kissed him back?

Her brain felt fuzzy and she groaned as she reached the Gryffindor common room. She had just entered inside when she had become aware of the footsteps that had been following behind her.

Ginny's flaming hair came through the portrait hole, obviously scanning the room looking for her.

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked, looking at her with eyebrows that were pulled down in a quizzical expression.

Hermione shifted on her feet, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the situation she had found herself in. Had Harry told her yet, that something had happened in the cupboard with Pansy? It had been obvious, no matter how much Harry had tried to cover it up. She could see it in his eyes. Though she supposed she shouldn't be one to talk.

"I'm fine," Hermione lied.

Ginny stared her down for a long moment before she crossed her arms over her chest. "What happened in the cupboard with Malfoy that's got you so riled up then?"

Hermione's cheeks flushed before she even knew what was happening. Her mouth opened and closed multiple times as she tried to come up with something to say. She had never been very good at lying. That had always been Harry and Ron's job, though occasionally she pulled through with a witty lie, like that time she had saved them from being expelled after they had saved her from the troll in their second year. But for some reason, the thought of Ginny Weasley was scarier than a mountain troll.

"I know something happened between Harry and Parkinson," Ginny finally said after a long pause. Hermione shifted even more uncomfortably. She just wanted to go to sleep.

"It was just a game," Hermione whispered, wondering how she could help Harry out of this situation. Ginny seemed to look at her with x-ray vision, as though she could read her mind.

"I guess," the red-head finally muttered. There was another pause before, "I think he enjoyed it," Ginny took a slow breath, "and I don't think I mind that much."

"Oh." It was all Hermione could think to say.

Finally, Ginny gave her head a little shake and then looked at her more sternly. "What happened in the cupboard with Malfoy?"

Hermione debated on telling her, she really did. But she just couldn't. Even though it was apparent, at least to Harry and Ginny, what had happened, she couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud. She shook her head, pursing her lips tight together before she started for the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"There is nothing to tell Ginny. It's Malfoy after all."

* * *

Draco and Pansy found themselves lying on a leather couch in the Slytherin common room, Draco's head resting on Pansy's lap with an ice pack on his forehead to dull his headache. Draco's head swam with Hermione and Pansy stared at the closed cupboard door, biting one of her manicured fingernails.

Blaise had gone off to nap and neither of them had spoken since he had left them alone, both too lost in their own worlds to speak.

Pansy couldn't help but think about Harry, and the red-haired companion that was his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Pansy hadn't even thought about her when they had been in the cupboard. She had almost forgotten that Harry even had a girlfriend until they had come out and she had seen her sitting next to Hermione looking a little put out.

For the life of her, Pansy couldn't figure out why this thought bothered her. It wasn't like she liked Harry like that anyway. It had just been a game. They had played a little game and sure, things had gone a little too far, but that didn't change anything between them.

Draco lay with similar thoughts as Pansy's swarming through his head. He kept replaying that night in his mind, particularly the part when _he_ had leaned in and kissed Hermione. Why had he done it? Thinking back now, with a foggy memory, he couldn't even remember. The thought bothered him and he shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

"Draco?" Pansy asked quietly, with her nail still in between her teeth.

Draco gave no indication that he had heard her, but she had drawn him from his thoughts and he waited for her to continue.

"What… um…" Pansy paused, seemed to think about what it was she was going to ask, and then shook her head. "Nevermind."

"Is this about last night?" Draco mumbled up, his eyes still closed and shielded under the ice pack.

"Mhm."

"Don't ask."

"Mhm."

* * *

Harry sat on the couch in front of the Gryffindor common room fire place, clutching a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. He stared into the flames, his mind perfectly blank for the first time that day. He relished in the feeling of it and tried desperately to keep himself from thinking about anything.

Harry had been so caught up in trying to keep his mind clear that he hadn't heard Hermione's footsteps approach him until she was sitting down next to him on the couch, already dressed in her night gown.

"Hot chocolate?" Harry asked, before she had the chance to say anything. Hermione looked at him for a long moment before shaking her head. She settled back down into the couch and stared into the fire also.

"What have you been doing all day?" Hermione asked, trying not to ask him the real question she had been dying to know. _Why didn't you come looking for me all day to make sure I was okay?_

Harry shrugged, running a hand through his mussed hair. "Ginny said she'd caught you before you went to nap but that you didn't seem like you wanted to talk much."

"You talked to Ginny then?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Not really, she just mentioned that you didn't want to talk," Harry mumbled, fiddling with the cup in his hands. "I don't know what to say to her. It's clear that she knows and," Harry paused for a moment, but his time of solitude had ended and now his brain was buzzing with activity. "I don't know what I was thinking, kissing Parkinson in that cupboard. It just sort of happened. I'm not even sure if I liked it or not."

Hermione watched him, knowing that he had more to say. She kept her mouth shut about Draco.

"Maybe I did like it. I don't know. But Ginny just wants to act like nothing happened." Harry finished with a sigh, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a sip of hot chocolate.

Hermione shifted on the couch, crossing her arms protectively over her chest, praying that he wouldn't ask about Draco. "I don't know what to say," she finally admitted.

Harry shrugged, waving a dismissive hand at her comment. They sat in silence for a long moment, both reveling in their own thoughts, before Harry's hand came out and patted Hermione's knee. Hermione looked at him and he offered her a smile.

"It'll be alright," he said, and Hermione wasn't sure which one of them he was trying to convince more.


	5. Partners From Hell

**Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

The rest of the weekend couldn't have been worse. Draco went along with Pansy all of Saturday, sitting around and acting like nothing had happened the night before while nursing his hangover, but by the time Sunday came around, Draco refused to leave the boy's dormitory. He even settled for finishing his Transfiguration essay rather than going out and having to face seeing the golden trio, or Pansy.

Blaise stayed in the dormitory as well, though he wasn't much company. He mostly slept, sometimes waking up to get some water before falling back asleep. Which was fine with Draco. He didn't want to talk to anybody. He didn't want to sit around and pretend that everything was okay, because everything was most certainly not okay. He was going around thinking about Hermione for Merlin's sake, and what bothered him most, though he wasn't sure why, was the fact that Hermione seemed totally unaffected by what had happened.

He had seen her and Harry last night at dinner, and they had actually been joking around, free of the hangover that still clung to Draco like a reluctant child.

Draco didn't know why the thought of Hermione not being affected by their night in the cupboard bothered him. It wasn't like he cared at all. It had just been a game. Even better, it had been a drunken mistake. Obviously if he had been in his right mind he wouldn't have kissed Hermione. So why did it bother him that she seemed to have totally forgotten about it? Who did she think she was? Making out with him in a cupboard and then acting like it never happened, as though it weren't on her mind, because it had to be on her mind, because it was on Draco's mind.

Why did he care anyway? It was just Hermione. But that was the worst part of it all. Someone had finally tripped Draco up and it just had to be _Hermione_.

Pansy seemed to be handling the situation much better than Draco was. While Draco hid himself away in the boy's dormitory all Sunday, Pansy had forced herself to go to the Great Hall for all her meals and to converse with others. She wanted to look as normal and put together as possible.

All throughout the war things had been tough, and people's lives were falling apart, including Pansy's. One little kiss with a Gryffindor wasn't going to be enough to break her down.

It wasn't until Monday morning, after Pansy had prepped and gone down to the common room, that she saw Draco emerge from the depths of his room. Pansy gave him a once over, noting his freshly washed robes and newly groomed hair, with his tie perfectly centered. She couldn't help but feel a little relieved. At least on the outside he was back to normal.

Draco held his arms up from his sides, as though he suspected that she would be examining him. She crossed her arms and cocked her hip, looking him up and down before nodding in approval.

"You got dressed," she commented with a smile.

Draco threw his bag over his shoulder and gave a nonchalant shrug. He had changed for one reason and one reason only. Hermione was going to squirm. She was going to stop acting like she was so much bigger than him, and like that night in the cupboard wasn't only just affecting him, and he was going to get under her skin. The familiar thrill of teasing the golden trio was seeping back into Draco's being and he was practically buzzing with excitement.

"Where's Blaise?" Pansy asked, glancing towards the door to the dormitory. Normally it was Blaise who waited in the common room for Draco to finish up.

"He went down already," Draco said, heading towards the portrait hole. Pansy followed after him and they headed down towards the Great Hall.

It wasn't until halfway up the stairs from the dungeons that Draco suddenly did a double-take of Pansy, his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline with surprise.

"Did you cut your hair?"

Pansy's smile grew, as though she hadn't expected him to notice it. She had indeed cut it, right up to her shoulders. She had been feeling so anxious lately that she thought a change was in order to calm her nerves.

"Why yes, yes I did," Pansy said, pretending to preen herself as they entered the Great Hall and caught sight of Blaise at the Slytherin table. "I'm glad you noticed."

Draco rolled his eyes a little at that. "You're such a girl sometimes."

"Who's a girl?" Blaise asked as they approached and sat themselves down beside him.

"Pansy is," Draco grabbed for a piece of bacon from Blaise's plate.

Blaise whipped around to look at Pansy, as though the news was most unexpected. "You're a _girl_? Why didn't you tell us?"

Pansy stuck her tongue out at Blaise and Draco shifted on his seat, trying his hardest not to glance over at the Gryffindor table. Yes, they were all very good at pretending like everything was normal.

* * *

Their first class was Gryffindor/Slytherin potions, and while everyone else seemed to be overcome with anxiety and dread, Draco couldn't have been more delighted. He watched as Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny came into the room. Ron muttered something to Harry before taking a hold of his sister's arm and dragging her away to another table.

Hermione watched as Ron towed Ginny away and she tried not to let it bother her. She knew Ron was just trying to see what was wrong with his best mate and his sister's relationship, but she had an uncomfortable feeling that Ron was also avoiding her since that night at the Slytherin common room. Harry nudged her side and she sighed before following him to an open table.

As soon as she sat down a pale figure had moved past her and she tried her hardest not to watch as Draco sauntered up to the front of the room to talk to Professor Slughorn, an usual hop in his step, as though he were up to something. Hermione glared suspiciously at him, but she couldn't watch him too long before unwelcomed thoughts began to crowd her mind. She quickly forced them away, pulling out her textbooks and parchment.

Draco came back and sat himself beside Pansy with a little triumphant smirk on his lips. Pansy looked at him for a long moment, trying to decipher what he was up to.

"What was that about?" she asked, glancing towards Slughorn. She had done her hardest to avoid another moment of eye-contact with boy wonder when he walked in the room.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Draco said seriously as Professor Slughorn quieted the class down.

"Alright, settle in, settle in. We've got a long week ahead of us. I've assigned you all partners to help complete this week's potion. They are as follows," Slughorn pulled out a roll of parchment and perched a pair of spectacles on the end of his long nose, giving the list a once over. He went through the pairs, looking excitedly about the room, before finally the words Draco had been waiting to hear slipped out, "Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter and Ms. Parkinson-"

Pansy wheeled around to look at Draco with an accusing stare.

"Did you do that?" she asked, referring to the partners they now had.

"Look, just do this for me Pansy. I have to talk to Granger," Draco said, gathering up his things.

" _Why_?" Pansy asked incredulously, suddenly nervous. She could ignore Harry from the other side of the Great Hall, but now she was partnered with him? And it was all Draco's fault just because he wanted an excuse to torment Draco? This was a new low, even for him. "I can't believe you threw me under the knight bus like this," Pansy hissed at him.

Draco looked at her with genuine surprise. "What's the big deal Pans? It's just Potter."

Pansy shifted in her seat before sighing in annoyance and turning her gaze away from him onto her parchment. Draco hesitated by her side, confused as to why she was so upset. He hadn't thought switching partners would have been a big deal for her. Shaking his head, Draco turned and headed over to where Harry was now standing from his seat.

They gave each other a look before passing each other and switching seats.

Harry approached the table where the raven-haired Slytherin girl that he had been trying to ignore for the past few days sat. He pulled back the chair and sat down, surprised when he heard her greet him.

"Oh, hello," he said back uncertainly, watching her to see if she would say more. When it was clear that she wasn't going to, Harry set his bag down and began rummaging through his things.

Pansy shifted beside him, feeling a little more uncomfortable than she was used to. She felt frustrated with herself. Why was she letting this affect her so much? He was just a boy. A Gryffindor boy. _The_ Gryffindor boy.

"So," Harry said, feeling awkward, "are you still trying for inter-house unity then? I didn't really expect you to talk to me."

Pansy's quill stilled for a brief second before she pressed on.

"Someone has to," she said matter-of-factly, dipping her quill into her ink bottle and starting a new line of notes. She felt like she was repeating the same lines over and over again, but it was better than sitting there with nothing to do or look at.

Draco was being far less polite as he came over and sat himself down beside Hermione. He set up his things and then turned his eyes to look at her, hoping to unnerve her in some way to look at him, for now she was bent with her head in her textbook intent on ignoring him, and Draco hated to be ignored.

Finally, after a long moment of feeling his eyes on her and trying not to blush, Hermione sighed and looked over at him.

"Can I see your notes?" she asked, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Draco's eyebrows went up and held up his notes, a little smirk on his lips. "If you ask really nicely."

Hermione glared at him, already fed up with his games. Why did she have to be paired with such an idiot? Why couldn't she have been paired with Harry? Or Ron? Ron was an idiot too, but at least she could try and calm the air between them. She did not want to calm anything between her and Draco.

"Never mind, I don't need them," Hermione huffed, turning away from him again. "Why would I ever ask you anything nicely? It's not like you've ever shown me the same courtesy."

Draco looked absolutely delighted that Hermione had said that and he scooted his chair closer to her and dropped his voice to a low whisper. He could see by the way that her quill had instantly stilled and her shoulders stiffened that he had her rapt attention.

"Never have I ever been courteous? I'm afraid I'd have to drink to that Granger."

Hermione's cheeks flushed before she had the chance to stop them as she thought back to that night. She couldn't believe all the things she had divulged to a room of basically strangers, to _Ron_ , to Draco! She tried to keep herself occupied, but her quill wouldn't write anymore.

"Is it courteous to ask for your permission? Because I did ask if you wanted me to stop, remember Granger?" Draco smirked as he saw her squirm a little in her seat in an attempt to put some distance between them. Through a curtain of curly hair he could see her cheeks tinged a bright pink. "Do you remember what you said to me Granger? When you were pressed up against me like you were?" Hermione gave a little gasp of surprise that he would take this so far and her quill slackened in her grip. Draco's smirk was absolutely devious. "You told me no."

Hermione whirled her head around to glare at him and she was surprised by how close his face was. She could almost count all of his eyelashes if she wanted to. Which she didn't, of course.

"Don't make it sound like I came onto you Malfoy," she hissed. "Believe me, as drunk as I may have been, I remember clearly that it was _you_ who kissed _me_ first."

Harry watched from the other side of the room as Hermione and Draco had a heated, whispered argument. Hermione looked absolutely livid and Draco was smirking as though he were having the time of his life. This thought agitated Harry and he turned to Pansy, who was still too involved in her note-taking to look up at him.

"I feel bad for Hermione, she looks about ready to pull her hair out."

Pansy stiffened, feeling a bit of her protective nature come over her as she glanced up at Harry.

"He isn't the devil, you know," she said haughtily.

"Yeah, but he's pretty close," Harry grumbled.

"You shouldn't assume things about people before you know them."

"What, you mean like your lot do?"

Pansy stiffened at Harry's words and she turned her head away quickly to look back down at her notes.

"I appreciate the effort you've made at this inter-house unity thing," Harry continued, not noticing the shift in the air between them "but let's face it. What really are the chances that any of us will ever truly get along? We're only doing it to make our last year somewhat enjoyable. As soon as we graduate we'll all go back to hating each other."

Pansy winced, not sure why she was so upset with what Harry had just said. Did she really expect anything to have changed for any of them? She hunkered down further into her seat, deciding not to answer.

* * *

The bell rang a long, tense hour later and Hermione felt herself fill with relief. She grabbed her quills and parchment and glared over at Draco just as he opened his mouth to say something to her.

"Do me a favor, Malfoy. Show me the courtesy of leaving me the hell alone," she spat, feeling all her frustration and anger rush out of her. She picked up her bag and hurried from the room as quickly as she could, ignoring the concerned stares of her fellow Gryffindors around her.

She hated him. She hated him so much. She hated him for what he was and what he would always be. Most importantly, she hated him for the way he made her crave to put distance between them.

Pansy could only sit there, even after the bell rang and Harry went rushing after a very disgruntled Hermione with a concerned pair of Weasley's at his heels. As soon as he was gone, Pansy allowed herself to breathe. It was only when a familiar voice said her name that she came out of her trance and began to pack up her belongings.

Pansy glanced up and caught sight of Draco standing beside her. Blaise stood by the door, waiting for them with his bag over his shoulder. They were the last ones remaining in the classroom, besides Slughorn who was busy straightening up his things at the front of the class for what looked like a second year potion's lesson.

Draco reached a hand out towards her and Pansy hesitated before she grasped it. She didn't care what Harry said. This inter-house unity thing had to work. She couldn't imagine going the rest of her, branded as a Slytherin and being forced to hate the rest of the world that wasn't. That just didn't seem right to her. They had all survived a wizarding war. Shouldn't they just be happy to be alive?

Pansy stood to her feet and followed Blaise out of the classroom with Draco at her side.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, and the silver trio stayed as far away from the golden trio as possible, mostly led by Pansy. Whenever she saw the raven-haired Gryffindor, she couldn't stand to be around him and would veer everyone off track to go the long way to class. Draco and Blaise either didn't notice or just didn't say anything.

By the time they got to the Great Hall that night for dinner, Pansy was exhausted from over thinking everything. She laid her head down on the table with a heavy sigh. _I'm sorry there wasn't more time_ raced around her head.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Pansy's odd behavior before he turned to look at Draco questionably. Draco shrugged a shoulder, his eyes intent on the Gryffindor table. True to Hermione's words, he hadn't had an opportunity all day to get under her skin. He had been most pleased by how annoyed she had been by the end of their potion's lesson, but it wasn't enough to make him feel better about the thoughts that were swirling around in his head.

Pansy suddenly stood from the table, picking up her bag and grabbing a bagel from the plate in front of her. Blaise stopped eating and Draco turned his gaze back to his own table to look at her.

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked with a scowl.

"Bed. Headache," she grumbled before she started out of the Great Hall.

Blaise watched her leave before he turned to look at Draco, who resisted the urge to look back at the Gryffindor table.

"What do you suppose is wrong with her? She's been acting odd all day."

Draco shrugged, unable to fathom what could be going on with his friend. As soon as he did so, he saw Hermione out of the corner of his eye get up and leave the table, heading for the door. He watched her leave, unaware that Blaise was watching someone else at the Gryffindor table suspiciously.

"What do you think happened between Potter and Pansy in the cupboard that night?" Blaise suddenly asked, pulling Draco from his thoughts. _That night_ had become the universal code for Pansy's inter-house unity party. Apparently a lot more had gone on at that party than a few stiff drinks and sloppy, uncharacteristic kisses in a cupboard. It was all the school could talk about all day.

Draco started at Blaise's question and he scowled over at his friend.

"What are you talking about?"

Blaise seemed to chew on his thought for a moment before he shrugged. "I don't know, it just seems that ever since that night Pansy has been a little off. I mean, we've all been a little off, but Pansy seems really affected by something."

Draco frowned, feeling a little put out that he hadn't noticed anything wrong with Pansy. He turned his eyes to look over at Harry, momentarily forgetting all about Hermione.

"You don't think anything bad happened, do you?" Blaise asked.

"Bad like how?" Draco questioned, his eyes narrowing at Harry angrily.

"Anything that might be considered… forbidden," Blaise suggested, struggling with the right word.

Draco's face scrunched up in distaste. "She would have told us," he said firmly, as though he were even trying to convince himself. "She would have told us if anything had happened. If something was bothering her, she would tell us. She would have said something."

"But would she?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.

Draco and Blaise both gave each other a long stare. They both knew the answer to that, no matter how much Draco tried to convince them otherwise. If something was bothering Pansy, she would not tell them about it.

"I'll go talk to her," Blaise said, standing up.

Draco nodded and watched Blaise leave the Great Hall, leaving him on his own. He was just about to go back to eating when he saw Harry and the others stand up as well. Draco looked at his abandoned food with longing before he sighed and forced himself to follow after them.

"Oi! Potter," Draco snarled, exiting the Great Hall and catching the group in the entrance foyer. "I need to talk to you."

Harry stopped suddenly, turning with a look of surprise. He looked as though he wanted to say something but was holding it back.

"What do you want?" Harry asked coldly, waving the others on ahead of them. They seemed to hesitate before they went on their way with confused looks.

"What happened between you and Pansy in that cupboard Potter? She hasn't been right ever since. What did you say to her?"

Harry glared at him behind his wire-rimmed glasses. "What happened between you and Hermione?"

Draco stiffened instantly, already regretting his decision to come over and talk to him. He should have waited for Blaise to get something out of Pansy, but he was too frustrated. Everything was all out of order and nothing was normal anymore.

After a long silence in which it became apparent that Draco was not going to tell Harry anything, Harry sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I didn't hurt her, if that's what you're thinking. I didn't do anything she objected to."

He didn't do anything that she objected to? Draco felt his blood boil a little. Harry had some nerve talking to him like that. He didn't seem like he was in the best position to be pissing people off who could easily go to his girlfriend and ruin his relationship, if it wasn't already.

"What did you do to Hermione?" Harry asked again, as though now Draco would be more open to telling him.

"Nothing she objected to," Draco sat between clenched teeth. "In fact, she's the one who told me not to stop."

Harry looked like he could have murdered him, but Draco turned on his heels and effectively ended the conversation by stalking away. The whole conversation had been pointless.


	6. A First Name Basis

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello all! I've gone back through the other chapters and made some changes, but don't worry, it's nothing drastic so you won't need to go back and re-read the whole thing.**

 **This is the longest chapter I've written so far for this story, and it's full of content that is definitely leading somewhere, so I hope you enjoy!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Pansy tapped her quill anxiously on her desk, trying hard not to chew on her lip where she had just applied a fresh coat of lip stick. She could hear Harry making his way over to the seat beside her and she tried her very hardest not to look at him. His words from last lesson seemed to fill up her brain and she shifted in her seat when he sat down next to her and began pulling out his textbook. He didn't say hi and neither did she.

There was a tense silence as the rest of the class settled down and Slughorn instructed them to pick the potion that they would be working on for the next week. Pansy pulled her textbook closer to her and peered down at the context list, where she had circled a few potions last night that had caught her eye.

It was Harry that spoke first.

"What potion do you want to do?"

Pansy straightened her shoulders, trying hard to keep a nonchalant polite tone, as though she could care less whether he was talking to her or not, unaware that his eyes were gazing at her from behind his glasses.

"I was thinking a trickier one, since everyone is going to go for the easiest ones. Maybe a sleeping draught?" Once she started talking she realized quickly that she couldn't stop. She was scared of the uncomfortable silence that would follow, and her nerves were so jumbled. Why was she acting like this? "I read about a rather tricky potion called Merundath," she jabbered on, reaching a hand up and brushing her bangs out of her eyes. Harry hadn't ever said anything about her new hair. "It's usually very popular among girls, as it gives the drinker the ability to feel confident about themselves. Though, the side effects seem rather… violent."

Harry chuckled from beside her and Pansy quickly looked over at him with a glare. Was he laughing at her?

"You can relax you know… I'm not going to bite, we've already gotten ourselves into much more awkward situations. This should be a breeze." Harry instantly winced at his choice of words and he quickly plowed on before she could reply. "I just meant that, you aren't sitting still. You should relax because I'm awkward enough as it is… I'm prone to putting my foot in my mouth," Harry finished lamely, feeling stupid.

She was making him nervous again.

"You can just pick whichever one you want, I'm rubbish in potions," he tried to laugh.

Pansy stared at him for a long moment, trying to coach herself into believing that she did not find awkward-put-foot-in-mouth-Harry's quiet laugh adorable. She put her head into her textbook and tried to hide her uncertain smile while flipping through the pages as quickly as she could. Finally, when she had calmed down a little, she landed on a potion she liked.

"Tollyfour," she said, showing him the page so that he would take his eyes off her. "It's a lucky potion, sort of like Felix Felicis. Though not as strong."

Pansy was just settling back into her seat when Professor Slughorn appeared at her shoulder, looking down at her with an over-enthusiastic smile. Pansy gave him one of her you're-my-professor-so-I'll-be-polite-to-you smiles.

"Ah, Miss. Parkinson, Mr. Potter, do you have a potion in mind that you'd like to work on?"

"Yes professor, we've chosen Tollyfour."

Professor Slughorn looked delighted and proceeded to check their names off on his piece of parchment that he carried with him. "An excellent choice! I remember back when I was a young tad and my sister and I tried brewing such a potion. As you can imagine what a failure that had been. We were far too young to be handling that sort of advanced potion making." Professor Slughorn droned on about his childhood with a reminiscent gleam in his eyes and Pansy tried her best to look as though she were paying attention.

Harry watched her for a moment, as it was quite humorous to see Professor Slughorn droning on to someone else for a change, but he didn't let her suffer too long. He leaned over and whispered to her, "It's easier to just tune him out, he doesn't seem to take much offense. I do it all the time." He offered her a little smile.

Pansy glanced over at him and she couldn't help but smile a little at his words. Very Slytherin-like of him. Though she didn't express her amusement outwardly. Slughorn noticed their wavering attention and quickly moved onto the next set of partners and Pansy turned back to her notes.

"We should make a study schedule," Harry suddenly said, before his cheeks began to warm up from embarrassment. "I mean, if you wanted to." Of course she didn't want to, Harry didn't even know why he suggested it. It wasn't like he wanted to spend any extra time with her, did he? "Or you can just, you know, have Malfoy's help or something."

Pansy's quill stilled in her hand and she hesitated before looking over at him. Judging by the tinge of pink in his cheeks, he was being absolutely serious.

"No, that's alright," she said after a moment's consideration. "We can make it up now." She pulled a fresh piece of parchment from her bag and scrawled down _Study Schedule_ on the top of it. "When are your Quidditch practices Harry?"

She noticed it the minute he had. His eyes widened a little behind his glasses.

"You called me Harry," he said dumbly.

Pansy shifted in her seat. "Well, that is your name."

He nodded his head slowly. "Yeah but, I mean, _you_ never call me that."

"Well, it's only the civil thing to do, isn't it?" Pansy said, trying to scoff but it came out as more of an awkward grimace.

Harry didn't say anything for a long while and Pansy found herself becoming more and more nervous the longer he looked at her. She wished she hadn't called him that. She had been debating on whether or not she should start calling him Harry and now she wished she hadn't. She also wished he would say something and break the uncomfortable silence that now fell around them.

"Pansy…" he said the word as though trying to see how it tasted in his mouth.

His voice saying her name sent little shivers down her spine and she felt even more foolish.

After another moment of silence, he finally reached over and scribbled down the dates and times of his Quidditch practices onto the corner of her sheet of parchment, his fingers brushing against her elbow.

"I also don't sleep very well," Harry said when he was done scribbling down the times. "So if you're ever awake, I'm sure I could get us a pass for the library after hours." There was another moment of silence. "I mean," Harry started again, "I mean, not that you'd want to be with me after hours. I didn't mean like that. I just meant, sometimes it's easier to study when everyone is asleep."

Pansy looked over at him and his face seemed to be growing redder by the second. Her heart pounded harder than she would have liked it to when she thought about sneaking around in the dark corners of the castle with Harry Potter after hours.

The bell rang loudly and Harry winced at the noise. Pansy slid the piece of parchment with the times for the study schedule over to his side of the table and she tried offering him a little smile, her heart pounding. "I don't sleep much either… You can always owl me," she stood to her feet quickly, grabbing her books and rushing away from his side as fast as she could, feeling incredibly stupid.

* * *

Pansy and Blaise found him quicker than he would have liked them to, though to be fair, the Great Hall wasn't exactly the best hiding spot. They sat down on either side of him, Pansy giving him a happy smile that he didn't have time to interpret. He had just spent another miserable potions lesson trying to get Hermione to talk to him and still she seemed to refuse to acknowledge his existence.

"How's it been working with Miss. Goodie?" Blaise asked as he started piling food onto his plate. Draco shifted. He didn't want either of them to know how annoyed he was that Hermione was ignoring him. Instead, he simply shrugged.

"She's annoying, as usual."

"Harry and I have made a study-"

" _Harry_?" Draco whipped around to look at her. Pansy blinked in a shocked sort of way.

"What?" she asked, though her voice was rather quiet. Draco stared at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. Pansy knew that look. It was his betrayed look. She had only ever seen him wear it once before – back when they were six and she had stolen his last piece of birthday cake.

"Oh, Harry now, is he? Harry bloody Potter's your new best friend now is he?" Draco spat, feeling increasingly angry. What was wrong with everybody lately? Hermione ignored him and it actually bothered him, Pansy was now best friends with Harry Potter. At least Blaise was still normal, quiet and observant as always, watching the two go back and forth like a Quidditch match.

"Draco, would you relax," Pansy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You know how I am about inter-house unity. And he's my partner."

Draco scowled down at his plate of food, pushing it away with annoyance.

"Stop it," Pansy said, though her voice was soothing. "You know you're my best friend."

Draco made a face at this. "Well, I'm not so sure anymore, am I?"

Pansy rolled her eyes and reached over to him as he speared angrily at his mashed potatoes. She jabbed him in the side and he jerked away reflexively, glaring over at her when she giggled. They stared each other down for a long moment before Draco sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Fine, what did you and _Harry_ choose for your potion then?" he asked, sneering at Harry's name still.

* * *

Harry found Hermione moping in the Gryffindor common room after potions. She seemed thoroughly troubled about something, but as he drew nearer, he could tell by her expression that she didn't want him to ask. Placing his bag on the floor, Harry sat himself down beside her, drawing her from her concentrated stare at the wall.

"How was it working with Draco today?" Harry asked, eyeing his friend carefully.

Hermione looked at him, her eyes growing big. "Draco? Since when did he become Draco?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, trying to stay casual. He hadn't meant to say it… it just sort of slipped. He was still thinking about Pansy's offer to study after hours.

"Oh, I see. You snog her in a cupboard and suddenly he becomes Draco to you."

Harry scowled at the annoyance in Hermione's voice, his muscles stiffening. He could tell that she was just looking for a fight, and he happened to cross her path at the worst time.

"Are you mad? No! But in case you'd forgotten, we survived a _war_ Hermione. And it gets tiring you know, fighting everybody all the time. Maybe Pansy is right about this whole inter-house unity thing." Hermione seemed to wince at the use of Pansy's name and Harry grew frustrated. "You know, you used to preach about inter-house unity as well, and then Draco goes and kisses you and suddenly you're against the whole idea?"

Hermione gaped at him wordlessly for a second, her expression angry, before finally she spat at him, "Nothing happened in that cupboard!" She was on her feet faster than Harry expected her to be, her hands balled into fists by her sides and for a second, Harry wondered if she was going to go off and hit him like she had Draco in third year. Instead, she merely grabbed her bag and rushed out of the common room, the back of her neck tinged pink.

* * *

Hermione and Harry entered Professor McGonagall's class both still steaming about their argument earlier that day. Hermione wouldn't look at or speak to Harry, and after two minutes of attempting to engage her in some sort of conversation, to which she would merely huff and turn away, he gave up. She was furious with him, and he with her. She was so stubborn sometimes it made Harry want to scream in frustration.

By the time class started, both Hermione and Harry had snapped at Ron for asking what was wrong with them and, looking extremely put out, he moved himself over to sit with Ginny. Ginny didn't look much better. Though she refused to have a proper conversation with Harry, she still glared at him every now and then whenever he accidentally caught her eye.

A few desks further up front, Draco and Pansy sat not doing much better. Pansy was trying her hardest not to look up from her notes except when Professor McGonagall changed them up on the board, and Draco kept fidgeting beside her, running his fingers through his hair and glancing back over his shoulder at something.

Halfway through the lecture, Pansy felt what she had been waiting to feel all class. Feigning ignorance to his stares was easy, but she could still feel them. His green eyes boring into the back of her head.

Suddenly, in the middle of Professor McGonagall explaining how a certain spell was performed, Hermione's hand flew up into the air. The movement attracted all eyes onto her, including Draco's. Professor McGonagall gave her an inquiring look.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?"

"I'm feeling a bit ill," Hermione said, and Harry raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "May I go to the hospital wing?"

"Of course," Professor McGonagall said, without any sort of hesitation. Being a star student had its perked, and Hermione packed up her bag before heading quickly for the door, avoiding Harry's eyes the whole way. She just couldn't stay coped up in that room with _him_ constantly looking back at her any longer.

Professor McGonagall resumed her lecture for another five minutes before Draco's hand went up in the air as well. Pansy eyed him angrily, already knowing that he was going to lie to get out of class. When Professor McGonagall noticed his hand, she seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as her eyes squinted into slits.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I'm not feeling so well either. Do you mind if I go too?" Draco tried for his most innocent sounding voice. Much to his surprise, Professor McGonagall waved a dismissive hand towards the door.

"Does anybody else want to skip off to the hospital wing?" she asked harshly as Draco gathered up his things and hurried out the door. When a thick silence answered her, Professor McGonagall nodded her head curtly and resumed her lesson for the second time.

Draco hurried down the corridor in hot pursuit of Hermione, confident now that he had finally caught her in a position where she couldn't ignore him. He had just gotten to the first floor when her mass of curls came into view, bouncing on her shoulders and disappearing out the front doors to the grounds. Draco hiked up his bag and followed after her, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his slacks to protect them against the early October breeze.

Hermione headed for the edge of the Black Lake, trying hard to get her thoughts together. She felt extremely guilty for lying to Harry and yelling at him earlier that day, but he was just so thick sometimes. The party had meant nothing, it was all just a game, and yet everybody was taking it so seriously. Ginny and Harry weren't talking to each other, and Draco seemed hell bent on pursuing her until she talked to him again. She just couldn't stand it anymore.

She had only just sat down by the water's edge when the one voice she had been hoping not to hear rang out from behind her.

"You know, normally when students are feeling well, they stay inside. And normally, Gryffindors don't lie to their teachers."

"And normally, Slytherins don't care about anybody else and stay out of other people's business," Hermione said through gritted teeth, turning her eyes to look over at him. The wind whipped his blonde hair around his face, though he seemed not to mind at all.

"Ah, see, that is where you're wrong miss. Know-it-all. Slytherins are always in other people's business," he smirked down at her.

Hermione sighed heavily. "What are you doing out here?"

Draco shifted on his feet, glancing out at the Black Lake and watching its glittering surface. This is what he had wanted, wasn't it? Hadn't he tracked her down in order to force her to talk to him? And now she was talking and he really didn't have an answer for her. He racked his brain for some witty comeback or something insulting, but nothing was coming to his mind.

He couldn't particularly come right out and tell her that he wanted her to be bothered that they had kissed in the cupboard. It should bother her, because it bothered him, but he didn't particularly want to talk about it either. Sighing heavily, he ran his fingers through his hair before finally turning to look back at her and giving a nonchalant shrug.

"Same reason you are I suppose."

Hermione stared up at him for a long moment, trying to read him, before she quickly turned her gaze back to the rippling waters before her. Silence stretched between them before a few stones moved by her side and suddenly Draco was sitting himself down and leaning back against the gnarled tree a few inches away. His presence so close to her made her nervous and she jiggled her knee up and down, trying hard not to notice him. What did he want? Or perhaps he was trying to unnerve her?

"We didn't pick a potion today," Draco said. Hermione had been so intent on ignoring him, and he had been so intent on being angry with her, that they hadn't been able to come up with a potion when Professor Slughorn finally made his way over to them.

Hermione looked over at him briefly before picking up a flat stone by her side and rolling it around in her fingers for something to do. The stone felt cool against her fingers and she tested the weight of it. When she continued not to say anything, Draco spoke up again.

"Pansy mentioned that her and Potter came up with study dates," he said bitterly. To his amazement, Hermione let out a rather unpleasant snort and rolled her eyes.

"Of course they have," she mumbled under her breath, chucking the stone towards the rippling surface. It sank instantly under the lapping waves and disappeared.

"What did they do in that cupboard?" Draco asked roughly, tired of asking the same question over and over again and getting no answer. He really didn't expect her to know, since he was clueless about what had happened, but by the look on Hermione's face, it was clear that she did. Draco sat up a little straighter, trying unsuccessfully to catch her eye. "Granger, what happened between them in the cupboard?"

Hermione was ready to burst. She was so furious with everything and how much everything had changed, she was sitting here having a conversation with ruddy Draco for Merlin's sake. It slipped out quicker than she could stop it.

"They snogged alright?"

Draco seemed taken aback by this, and his eyes widened before narrowing into angry slits.

"But he's-"

"Dating Ginny, I know," Hermione finished for him, rolling her eyes and picking up another stone before tossing it towards the lake. It sank below the waves as well with a tiny _thunk_.

"Are you dating Weasley?"

Hermione started at this question, whipping around to look at him. He was glaring at her, as though she had said something offensive. She glared right back at him.

"Even if I was, that's none of your business." She said haughtily.

"It is my business Granger, because you snogged me in that cupboard-"

" _You_ came onto _me_ Malfoy!"

"You still snogged me back!"

The bell up at the castle rang, signaling the end of classes. Both their faces were red as they looked at each other. Hermione grabbed for her bag and lunged to her feet, glaring down at him. Why couldn't everyone just leave it alone? It was just a game! It was only supposed to be a game! Draco leaped up at the same time, his hands curled into fists by his sides. Of course, now that they were finally talking about what had been bothering Draco for the past few days, and now that Hermione was finally getting upset about it, she was going to just walk away. This thought annoyed Draco more than anything.

"Going to go cower in your library now Granger?" he sneered at her.

"And what if I am?" she barked back just as bitterly. "This whole thing is crazy!" she pushed past him roughly, knocking his shoulder with hers.

Draco turned and watched her storm back up to the castle, feeling incredibly heated and annoyed.

* * *

Harry sat in the armchair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, having just gotten out of the shower. The room was practically empty, save for a few first years in the corner doing homework, and Ginny and Dean playing exploding snap on the other side of the room. Harry watched them for a minute, feeling increasingly angry at Ginny, though he wasn't sure why.

She avoided him like the plague and he was so tired of watching her hang out with her all other friends and avoid him every day. As though feeling his gaze on her, Ginny looked up from her game and glanced over at him. He saw her excuse herself before she stood from the table and walking over to him. He shifted uncomfortably, wishing suddenly that she hadn't.

Ginny glanced at his sweatpants and t-shirt before she said, half-heartedly joking, "Going somewhere?"

Harry knew it was meant to be a joke, but her attempt to act as though they hadn't been avoiding each other for weeks made him angry. "Does it matter? Do I ask you where you're always heading off to?"

Ginny seemed surprised by his response, but she too became angry just as quickly as he had.

"What is the matter with you?"

"A lot is the matter with me Ginny. Not like you'd notice of course, since you're so busy avoiding me and running around with your other friends. I have a lot on my mind so just keep doing what you're doing."

Ginny glared at him before suddenly she was on her feet and stomping her way towards the girl's dormitory. Harry knew he'd come to regret his outburst later, but right now he couldn't find it in him to care. He reached a hand up and shook out his wet locks before he stood up and headed up the stairs to his dormitory.

Gizmo, his new barn owl, sat on a perch in his room, cleaning his feathers. He glanced up when Harry entered and hooted at him, looking eager for a letter to deliver. It still pained him every time he saw Gizmo and thought of Hedwig.

"I've got one for you," Harry said, trying not to take his anger out on him.

He pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill before scribbling down a risky message.

 _Pansy,_

 _Fancy a walk and a chat? Everything seems really chaotic as of late._

 _We can discuss our potion if you'd like to._

 _Send Gizmo back with a reply- H.P._

He read the letter over three times before taking a breath and tying it to Gizmo's leg. Gizmo hooted and stretched his wings, staring at the closed window. Harry hesitated, thinking about his fight with Ginny, before he opened the latch on the window and allowed Gizmo to soar out into the fading light as the sun began to set in the distance.


	7. Harry and Pansy

**Author's Note:**

 **Two chapters at once? Here you go!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Pansy sighed as she entered the girl's dormitory, placing her bag on her bed and falling down next to it. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes before sitting up, running a hand through her bangs when her eyes caught sight of the picture in the silver frame on her bedside table. She smiled a little, reaching over to the picture and picking it up.

It was a picture from the Yule Ball, back in their fourth year. Had it really only been a few years ago since they had all gotten dressed up? It seemed like much longer to her.

They all stood in front of the fire place in the common room. She had worn a silver, form fitted dress with her hair up in a high bun on the top of her head. Draco stood beside her, a casual arm draped over her shoulders and a dazzling smirk splayed on his pale lips that then turned into a smile when Pansy tickled his side to get him to actually smile for the photo, dressed in a velvet black suit with a high collar. Blaise stood on the other side of Draco, dressed in an all black tuxedo with his arm held tightly around Millicent's waist.

It was her favorite night ever at Hogwarts. Nothing else had mattered except them and drinking some butter beer and dancing. It had been a glorious night. Pansy smiled down at photo, wishing she could go back in time.

A light tap on the door made her jump and she looked up, even though the door didn't open. Scowling, Pansy set the picture frame back down and got up. She opened the door and an owl that she'd never seen before came flying into the room, landing on her bed and hooting proudly of itself before sticking out its leg. Pansy stared at it for a moment before walking over to it and stroking its head.

"Hey there, who do you belong to?" she asked, untying the letter from its leg.

She knew his handwriting before she even started reading it.

 _Pansy-_

 _Fancy a walk and a chat? Everything seems really chaotic as of late._

 _We can discuss our potion if you'd like to._

 _Send Gizmo back with a reply- H.P._

"Gizmo, huh?"

The owl hooted and nipped her finger gently. Pansy stared down at the letter, rereading it a couple of times and trying to ignore the excited feeling building up in the pit of her stomach. Any minute now, Blaise and Draco would be entering the common room. She'd have to move fast if she wanted to leave without confronting them.

Grabbing a quill and turning the message over, Pansy quickly wrote a reply.

 _Harry-_

 _A walk and a chat sound nice. Meet me in the Entrance Hall?_

 _~Pansy_

Simple and to the point, and yet for some reason, her hands felt like they were shaking. She didn't have time to think about what she was doing before she tied the letter to Gizmo's leg.

"Return this to your owner, quickly now," Pansy encouraged. Gizmo gave another hoot and took off out of the door, leaving Pansy behind to smile a little.

* * *

Harry stared at Pansy's reply, not quite believing that she had actually agreed to meet him. He quickly put the letter at the bottom of his trunk before he pulled out his cloak, just in case they came upon any professors out at night, though he highly doubted any of them would care. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin out at night? It was the highest definition of inter-house unity. Still, Harry wasn't going to take any chances.

He was just about to sneak off downstairs when the door opened and Ron came in, looking disgruntled and extremely tired. Before Harry had the chance to ask, Ron mumbled out, "Bloody potions essays," and collapsed onto bed, pushing his head deep into his pillow.

Harry watched him for a moment, debating on if he should tell him he was going out, before he decided against it and left Ron to sleep.

The common room was empty now that the sun had gone down, and the fire was burning low in the fireplace, casting shadows around the room. Harry pushed open the portrait hole and disappeared into the corridors, feeling his heart racing a bit in his chest. He was used to sneaking out after hours, sure, but he wasn't used to sneaking out to see a girl, especially not a Slytherin.

Though he felt guilty about doing all of this behind Ginny's back, he couldn't help but still feel angry with her. Though he had thought he had loved her, at one point, her constant avoiding him was now making him wonder differently, and he really couldn't keep chasing after her all the time. He was growing too tired of it. And he couldn't help but be excited at the thought of spending time with the Slytherin girl who had occupied much of his thoughts recently.

She was easy to talk to, though she did make him a bit nervous sometimes, but it was a good nervous. A good nervous that he hadn't felt in a long time.

When Harry got to the Entrance Hall, Pansy was already standing there, leaning against the wall by the Great Hall doors in a skirt a button down shirt. Harry suddenly felt horrible under dressed for the occasion, though he didn't have much time to contemplate this when suddenly Pansy was looking over at him and giving him a small smile.

"Hey," she whispered in the dark, the only source of light coming from the lanterns along the wall.

"Hey," he said back, fighting back the urge to smile really big. "How did you manage to escape your bodyguards?" he joked, referring to Draco and Blaise.

Pansy smirked up at him, obviously enjoying the image of Draco and Blaise as being her bodyguards, before she gave a nonchalant shrug. "Draco has wandered off somewhere and Blaise doesn't really ask questions."

An awkward silence stretched between them, in which Harry shifted his weight from one foot to the other, before he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, you probably weren't expecting me to take you up on your offer for company. I just," he hesitated a moment and Pansy looked up at him, catching his eyes. "I just need to get away." He finished lamely.

Pansy smiled up at him before she pushed herself away from the wall and wrapped her arms tightly around one of his, the way she sometimes did with Draco, before she started off down the hall, pulling him along with her.

"What are you trying to get away from?" she asked hesitantly, though she thought that perhaps she already knew the answer.

Harry seemed to hesitate before he sighed. "Well, Ginny, honestly. She's driving me mad. She won't talk to me, about anything. She hardly ever talks at all. And when she does, all she wants to do is argue."

Pansy tried not to think about how awkward it was that she was thinking about Harry and he was talking to her about his girlfriend. Though she couldn't help but feel a little happy at the knowledge that him and Ginny weren't doing so well. She tried to shake that feeling away.

"Never mind anything I'm saying," Harry suddenly said, his cheeks lighting up when he realized what he was saying and who he was saying them to. Just a couple of days ago he had been in a cupboard kissing the girl beside him, while his girlfriend sat on the other side of the door, and now he was talking bad about her to Pansy. He didn't want to make Pansy uncomfortable, he just wanted to get away from all the frustration.

Pansy didn't say anything, instead giving his arm a squeeze to let him know that she had heard him. They wandered the dark corridors, only having to narrowly escape Filch once. Fighting back a fit of giggles, they arrived at the Astronomy tower sometime past ten.

Pansy let go of Harry's arm and walked over to the banister, looking out over the grounds that were covered in silver from the moonlight. Harry came over and stood beside her, the wind sweeping his messy hair into a tangled mess. Pansy couldn't help looking at it. She couldn't help but admit to herself, finally, that she found Harry Potter incredibly attractive, in a shy sort of way that she'd never bothered to look at before.

"What's running through your head Harry Potter?" Pansy asked, pulling her eyes away from him.

Harry gave a little chuckle, reaching a hand up and scratching at his head sheepishly. If wind had blown at that exact moment, Pansy wouldn't have heard what he said. "Honestly… the party."

Pansy felt her cheeks begin to warm up, even though she pushed the feeling down as hard as she could.

"The party?" she asked, feigning dumb.

Silence passed between them, and it seemed as though Harry was trying to build his courage up for something. Finally, when he did speak, it sent a rush of warmth to Pansy's stomach that she hadn't been expecting.

"Tell me, Pansy. I've kissed a couple other girls, but… why is it I can't seem to stop thinking about kissing you in that cupboard and," he took a breath, "and wanting to do it again and again?"

Harry felt his cheeks flush hotly. He was never the type of guy to be so confident and openly admit the things he was thinking. Even with Ginny, he had been shy and uncertain most of the time. But Pansy was different than Ginny. Pansy was feisty in a way that was dangerous. She was snarky and polished and confident in a sexy sort of way. She was a take charge kind of girl that Harry had never been with before. It made him see things differently than he had before.

Pansy looked over at him and noticed the way his cheeks burned from admitting this to her. She couldn't help but smirk a little at him. She had been with many other guys, most of them had been Slytherins, so they were more than open about telling her how much they fancied her and what they wanted from her. To see Harry stumbled over something so innocent, it made her heart lurch in a funny sort of way.

But did he expect her to answer him? What did he want her to say? Did he want her to admit that she had been having difficulties getting him out of her head these past few days? Or did he want her to say that she hadn't thought of him like that since their time in the cupboard, so that he could move on back to Ginny?

"You're quite the case Harry," she said truthfully, gazing out at the still surface of the Black Lake before she turned to look at him. "I've been with a lot of guys you know, but none of them have ever made me wonder the way you do."

Stealing her courage, Pansy reached over and touching his hand on the banister, moving her fingers along his knuckles before taking hold of it and lifting it up. She held his hand up so that she could see his palm, and he shifted a little to face towards her. She ran her fingers along his palm in gentle patterns, like he had done to her hip when they had been in the cupboard that night.

"Why did you do this?" she whispered, watching her own fingers work against his palm. It had been something that she had been wondering for days now. Never before had she been with someone who had been so gentle with her, and who had drawn on her skin like it was parchment and his fingers were quills. "Why did you draw on me like that?"

Harry's palm tingled from where her fingers traced patterns on him and it sent a shiver down his spine. He shrugged a little, suddenly become anxious and nervous again. His few moments of confidence were disappearing the longer he looked at her.

"I'm sorry if it bothered you," he whispered, even though there was no one around to catch them.

"It didn't," she said back, looking up at him. "I… liked it."

He smiled a little, though it was quick, before his nerves grabbed a hold of him again. "I don't know what it is about you. You're just so different than I'd always thought you were."

His eyes were trained on her and Pansy felt her breath hitch. His hand moved away from hers and she let her hand fall back to her side, watching him intently. Suddenly he was taking a step towards her and Pansy took an instinctual step back, the railing on the balcony pressing into her back. He was so close she could hardly concentrate.

He stilled the moment she took a step back and he stared at her, watching her expression closely. "What do you want, Pansy?"

The question lingered around her, even though she already knew the answer. The silence stretched on and Harry looked nervous and uncertain, something she wasn't used to. She took a breath.

"I want you to shut up and kiss me Harry Potter."

Harry blinked down at her for several seconds, wondering if he had heard her correctly. He looked for any malice or tricks hidden in her eyes, but there was none. There was only her, looking up at him and waiting. She'd meant it.

He took the last step towards her, their hips knocking together as the distance between them closed completely. He couldn't help the little grin that came to his lips, and Pansy smirked up at him, her body tingling with anticipation. He reached one of his hands up into her hair, feeling the silk of it between his fingers, and Pansy leaned her head back into his palm, looking up at him with her painted pink lips parted.

He reached a hand down and took hold of one of hers, pulling it up and pressing it flat against his chest, where his heart was beating incredibly fast under his robes.

She was transfixed by the gentleness in which he handled her, as though she were some fragile porcelain doll that could break at any moment. The steady, hurried beating of his heart thumped against her palm, and he was so close that in the slightest movement his cheek brushed the side of her face, his nose plunging into her hair, and his lips, like two soft flower pedals, brushed against her skin. She couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through her as he whispered in her ear.

"Is this okay?"

Pansy couldn't take it. She slipped her hand out from under his and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down her and crashing her lips against his.

Her body was small and warm against his, and he was swept away by her lips. He had never been with anyone who made him feel like this before. He had never felt such a passion in his chest, such a longing in the pit of his stomach. His hands moved without him telling them where to go and he kissed her so hard he was sure his lips were going to bruise.

He was caught up in the moment, and he reached down before lifting her up onto the banister, bringing her level with him. She didn't even gasp or jump when he lifted her; she was fearless and willing.

Pansy didn't have time to think, none at all. Her brain was so fogged up and her actions were purely instinctual as she wound her fingers into her bedraggled hair. His hands closed around her lower back, pulling her to him, and she would have blushed if she were the type of girl to do so when she felt him, hard through his sweatpants.

He pulled his lips away, feeling the burning need to breath, and he stared down at her pink lips that he had made crimson, feeling incredibly proud of himself.

Pansy watched him looking at her, taking in the way the wind swept his hair around her fingers, and his eyes looked at her through his glasses as though he could see inside her mind.

The rise and fall of her chest attracted his gaze, and he leaned his lips against the hollow of her throat, gently letting his tongue dart out before moving along the curve of her shoulder. Pansy's head fell back and she was pressed against him more solidly, enough to make him squirm between her thighs.

"Just tell me when, and I'll stop," he mumbled against her hot skin.

 _Never_. The word whispered in the back of her head as she pulled him away from her neck and refastened her lips against his. One of his hands moved from her low back and touched her thigh, inching up her skirt just a little and drawing a hypnotizing pattern against her sensitive skin.

And then, just as soon as she was sure that she was going to let him do whatever he wanted to her, a face framed in fiery red hair looked at her from behind her eyelids. She sighed against his lips, relished in the feel of him for one more second, before she gingerly pulled back from him. She placed her hands on his chest and he stilled instantly. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and the hardness of him through his sweatpants against her inner thigh, and the feverish feeling of her cheeks.

They both were breathing heavy and when Pansy lifted her head to look at him, she found that he was watching her hungrily, his glasses askew on his face.

She smirked a little up at him, reaching up and fixing the glasses upon his face before wiping a smudge of her lip gloss off his cheek.

"You should not sleep more often," she whispered up at him, and she was thrilled at the sight of him smirking down at her.

* * *

Hermione showered until the water ran cold, hoping to calm herself down from her latest encounter with Draco. What was he playing at, following her down to the Black Lake and trying to get her to talk about them kissing in the cupboard? Why was everyone so obsessed with the game they had played? It had been just that, a game, and it was supposed to end when everyone had gone back to their dormitories. So why was it now following her around everywhere she went?

Growing incredibly anxious, Hermione turned off the shower and got out, quickly drying her hair and putting on her pajama pants and tank top, grabbing a sweater from the bottom of her trunk. When she got down to the common room, the sun was beginning to set out in the fields. Curfew would begin soon, but she had gotten special permission from Madame Pince to stay a bit later in the library to do some work.

That's all she needed to do. She needed to do some work to distract herself and clear her mind of things.

After grabbing her bag and the note that Madame Pince had given her earlier that day, Hermione headed for the library. Madame Pince regarded her with the typical fondness when she entered the room as the sun was beginning to dip behind the mountains in the distance, reminding her to lock up before she left for the night. She'd come to favor Hermione from the hours she'd spent in the library and the care with which she took for the surrounding books.

Hermione nodded, making her way to the back near the fire place, grabbing a few books on potions and transfiguration before settling herself comfortably at a table all to herself.

* * *

Draco sighed as he combed a hand through his hair, gazing off at the other side of the Quidditch pitch as the sun began to set over his head, casting shadows along the grounds. Blaise sat next to him, reading from his one of his textbooks, though Draco had failed to ask him which one. His mind was far too occupied with thoughts of Hermione.

He wished he could obliviate that night from his memory, so that he would never have to think about her in the ways he was ever again. But it seemed impossible lately for him to get her out of his mind. He was either infuriated with her ignoring him, or dozing off and thinking about their time together in that cupboard. Either way, she was a parasite within his mind, and he just couldn't shake the thought of her.

"Draco," Blaise snapped his fingers in front of Draco's face, causing him to jump and come out of his dazed state. "I said let's go. It's getting late."

Draco glanced at the setting sun, which had almost disappeared behind the mountains, before he nodded, lifting himself up and following Blaise down the stands and through the Quidditch Pitch. He didn't know when exactly he had decided that he was going to go off and confront Hermione, but by the time they reached the front doors and Blaise started heading towards the kitchens for a snack, Draco turned in the opposite direction and started for the stairs, swinging his broomstick over his shoulder. "I'll see you later," he called over his shoulder as his only explanation. He did not stop and see if Blaise had answered him.

By the time he had reached the library, it looked as though it were already closed up for the night, the large iron gates were drawn across the entrance. Draco noticed the flickering of a fire deep within the library and he glanced at the lock on the door, noting that it was partially opened.

He pushed the gate open with the tip of his broomstick before he slipped inside, hoping that he wasn't about to run into Madame Pince. The woman didn't like him very much, and he had never really cared for her. She was a batty old woman who was always yelling at students for not handling her books carefully enough.

Draco headed for the back of the library, following the flickering lights of the fire, and he stopped when he caught sight of Hermione's curly hair drawn back into a bushy ponytail. He hoisted his broomstick higher up on his shoulder before he sauntered over towards her.

"You sure know how to have a wild night out, don't you Granger?"


	8. Draco and Hermione

**Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Hermione jumped at the sound of Draco's voice and turned around in her seat to look at him. He was covered in dirt and dried sweat, his blonde locks sticking to his forehead and his broom hanging lazily over his shoulder. He stared at her for a long time, the fire casting shadows over his long, pointed face.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked, trying to sound snappy, but she was so tired. She turned her back on him, hoping he would go away if she ignored him long enough. But she should have known better.

A shadow fell across her parchment as Draco walked over to the table she was working at and sat himself down on the edge of it, leaning his broomstick against his leg.

"We need to pick a potion," he said again, and Hermione felt agitated at his presence all over again. Draco Malfoy wasn't following her around the grounds to inform her that they needed to get a move on with their potions project, she was quite sure of it.

"A sleeping draught then," Hermione said stiffly, before looking up and glaring at him. "You've got your potion. Now leave me alone."

He didn't move. Not like Hermione really had expected him to. He swung his leg absentmindedly and it thumped against his broomstick.

"Are you with Weasley?" Draco asked, cocking an eyebrow down at her. She had refused to answer him down at the lake, and he was hell bent on figuring out what was going on between everybody. He could barely stand the idea of Pansy and Harry having been together, and he hadn't seen her since Hermione had made the confession. He wasn't looking forward to the moment when their paths would cross.

"It's _none_ of your business, Malfoy," Hermione spat darkly, feeling her hands beginning to tremble.

"Yes, it is," he said just as harshly, glaring down at her. He could almost see the steam coming out of her ears and his heart began to hammer in his chest as her cheeks flushed a deep red.

"Just because we snogged _once_ in a broom cupboard does _not_ mean that you can follow me around and-"

"You've been thinking about it, haven't you?" Draco said. Hermione sputtered incoherently at his words for a moment, opening and closing her mouth multiple times, before finally she rolled her eyes and gave a great huff.

"No, of course I haven't."

Draco eyed her and he noticed the flush in her cheeks creep slowly along her neck and take over her whole face. She suddenly seemed very unable to catch his gaze. Draco felt triumph sore through him. He hadn't been crazy. It wasn't just him. Hermione was having trouble getting it out of her mind too.

"You're lying," Draco said matter-of-factly.

Hermione was on her feet in an instant, looking baffled and irritated. She made to grab her parchment up and Draco slapped his hand down on top of it, preventing her from taking it. She seethed through gritted teeth at him and turned her back, marching away a few paces before she seemed to change her mind and turn back to look at him, pointing a threatening finger towards him as though it were a wand. He stayed seated on the desk, eyeing her over his broomstick.

"This is all your fault!"

" _My_ fault?"

"Yes! Yours and Parkinson's and Harry's and Ron's! If it weren't for you, and your stupid inter-house unity party-"

"Oh Merlin for once Granger, could you ever just stop feeling sorry for yourself?" Draco roared, standing up and gripping his broomstick with tight fingers. "Not everything is about _you_."

"Oh, that's rich. Coming from you, of all people," Hermione sneered at him, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "You're always the one whining for people to pay attention to you! And it isn't my fault that all of this has happened. It was Harry and Ron's idea to go to the party, it was Parkinson's idea to play that _stupid_ game and it was-"

"It was what Granger?" Draco glared, taking a step towards her. "Go on, finish that sentence."

She jabbed her finger at him again. "It was _your_ idea that we should kiss!"

"You told me not to stop!"

Hermione's cheeks, which had begun to pale during their argument, flamed up again in embarrassment. "I didn't know what I was doing! I was drunk!"

"Oh, and I was sober was I?" Draco felt his heart beating so fast and his blood rushing through his veins. Granger stared him down for a long moment and they both were breathing heavy, when suddenly she was coming at him, stomping her feet and looking like she could have murdered him. He held his breath and watched her, clenching his jaw. It happened so fast he almost didn't realize that it had actually happened.

Her hand came out and slapped him, hard, across the cheek, much like she had done in their third year. Draco felt his anger ebb in shock and then return full force. He rounded on her, grabbing her by the shoulder and tossing her away from him. She stumbled and fell against a bookshelf. A few loose books tumbled to the ground, but Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"It's all your fault!"

" _What is_?" he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. His broomstick clattered to the ground and the sound echoed throughout the silent library. The fire crackled merrily, unaware of their argument.

"It's your fault that I-" She paused.

He took a threatening step towards her and she pulled herself up to her full height. She could see the color in his cheeks and the blazing fire in his eyes. Her stomach lurched.

"What?"

"That I-" Another pause and another step. He was staring down at her, at least a whole head taller than her. His shoulders were shaking and she wondered briefly if he was going to hit her too.

"That I can't stop-"

He was there before she realized what was happening. His lips were on hers, his hands curled tightly around her biceps to the point where she almost couldn't feel her fingertips. She tasted the mingling of sweat and cinnamon, maybe toothpaste, and she stiffened under him. His body was lean and strong and there, right there, and he was kissing her and they were not drunk or hidden away in a broom cupboard and this was not right.

She put her hands on his chest, ready to force him away, and he stiffened under her fingers, but he did not move. He pushed against her hands and her back pressed into the bookcase. It was like she was looking down on them from above, and she had no control over her own actions. She felt herself kissing him back, could see what someone else would see if they rounded the corner and found them, but she could not stop.

She was so frustrated and aggravated and he had done it again! He had kissed her first and he was not drunk and she was kissing him back and she was not drunk. Her mind tilted and turned and his hand moved up to grip her hair and move her towards him. She drank him in like the Firewhiskey she had consumed _that night_ and her mind floated away and she thought of nothing and everything all at once.

He yanked away from her and Hermione's hands curled into tight fists, gripping the fabric of his shirt before she heaved a breath and shoved him away. He stumbled back a step or two, his hand letting go of her, and he hit the chair she had been sitting in when he had arrived.

He stared at her from across the small gap between them and she looked at him, wide-eyed and breathing heavy.

"Why… What… Who do you think you are?" she gasped, trembling. Her stomach was moving around in a way that she hated and she tore her eyes away from his slender form.

"I… You said," Draco looked about wildly, his brain coming back in scattered clumps. What the hell was he doing? "You were going to say-"

"Don't."

Draco looked at her and was bewildered to see the tears dotting in her eyes. He stiffened and gripped his hands into tight fists, clenching his jaw. She stared him down and silence fell between them. His heart was hammering so hard in his chest that he didn't know what to do. He merely looked at her and waited for her to move, or for her to say something. For her to do anything.

Finally, she started towards him. He stepped back, expecting her to hit him, but she didn't. She stopped in front of him, gazing up at him with furrowed eyebrows. Her lips, which were bruised and puffy, were parted and his eyes lingered on them longer than he would like.

"What are you doing Malfoy?" her voice came out quieter than he thought it would have, and his muscles loosened a little. He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stand on end. He didn't know what he was doing. He was just trying to make everything make sense again. He was trying to understand the undesirable urge he had to kiss her and touch her, like he had never had before.

"I just-"

Again, her hand came out and slapped him hard. He stumbled back, knocking into the table, his hand flying out backwards to catch himself. Something left his fingers and thudded against the hard surface but neither of them turned to see what it was. He glared down at her and she looked at him, looking uncertain and upset, unshed tears still shining in her eyes.

"No," she said through gritted teeth. "Harry might be letting this get to him, and he might be turning his back on Ginny, but I'm not like that. It was a _game_. It should have been over once we left-"

"Then why isn't it?" Draco asked in frustration. Hermione stared up at him, looking even more confused and uncertain and upset than before.

"I don't-"

He stepped towards her and she stepped away. She shook her head fiercely. "Don't." She warned again.

They stayed like for a long time, each staring at each other and not saying a word. Finally, Hermione reached over to her parchment and textbooks and shoved them inside her bag. Draco didn't move to stop her. He stared at the floor a little ways away, listening to her rummage around through her things. Her shadow passed in his peripheral vision as she started for the library doors. He looked up and watched her back as she moved away.

"You won't be able to stop thinking about it," he called after her. He noticed the way her shoulders tensed at his voice, but she did not stop. "Just because you run away doesn't mean it's going to go away!"

She disappeared around the corner and Draco waited until he could no longer hear the sounds of her footsteps sounding off on the concrete floor before he let out a frustrated sigh. He ran his hands through his hair before lashing out and knocking a pile of books off the neighboring table. They landed on the ground in a thud and Draco turned to pick up his broomstick.

He was just standing up when something glinted off the table in front of him in the fire light. His eyebrows furrowed together as he stared at it, slowly lifting his broomstick over his shoulders. Before him sat a small, golden locket. Draco reached for it and picked it up, lifting it into the light to examine it. The chain was broken and dangled uselessly from his pale, dirty fingertips. He turned it over and over, but it had no designs and no initials. Just a small, golden locket, with a tiny divot in the side, just big enough for a pinky nail to fit in.

He stared at it for a moment, a small pile of gold in the middle of his palm, before he pushed it deep within his pocket and turned on his heels, heading out of the library at a fast walk.

* * *

Draco sat on one of the leather couches in the Slytherin common room, freshly showered and in his pajamas, staring down at the little locket between his pale fingers. He turned it this way and that but couldn't bring himself to actually open it. He knew somehow that this locket belonged to Hermione, and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know or cared about what was inside of it.

He could still feel her lips pressed against his, and the familiar tug in his groin as he shifted on the couch, trying hard to push Hermione out of his mind.

Blaise sat on the couch opposite him, reading a magazine and looking close to passing out as his eyes flicked over the words on the pages. Neither of them said anything, and Blaise didn't question where Draco had gone off to, instead merely picking on him for tracking in dirt across the carpet.

Draco was just about to lift himself up and go to bed when the portrait hole slid open. Blaise glanced over his shoulder curiously, and when Pansy's dark-haired head bobbed into view, he suddenly seemed to wake up.

"Oho! And where have you been Miss. Parkinson?" Blaise called out gleefully, looking smug.

Pansy stopped upon seeing them, trying to look innocent, but a stone dropped into the pit of her stomach when her eyes connected with Draco's. He looked absolutely furious and she felt herself shift on her feet.

"Uh, Draco, can I talk to you?" Pansy asked quietly, trying to be discreet. Blaise's eyes bounced between Draco and Pansy curiously.

"About what?" Draco demanded, his jaw stiff and his fingers clasped tightly around Hermione's locket.

Pansy glanced at Blaise and then looked back at Draco pleadingly. He let out a heavy sigh and nodded his head uncertainly.

"Sure."

Pansy smiled at Blaise and said goodnight before she quickly followed Draco to the boy's dormitory. Most of his roommates seemed to be out or in the showers and Draco was relieved that they were alone. He quickly tossed Hermione's locket into his bag and shoved it under his bed before he sat down and turned an accusing eye on her.

"Well," he said.

Pansy closed the door as slowly as she could and took her time walking across the room before she finally sat herself down next to him, taking a hold of his hand. He stiffened at her contact, but he did not pull away.

"Why are you all dressed up?" he asked, glancing over her short skirt and button down shirt. She seemed to fidget under his gaze, something she had never done before.

"You know," she said, with a hint of defeat in her tone. Draco ripped his hand away, feeling his blood beginning to boil.

"You were with Potter?" he asked incredulously, though he wasn't sure why he was so upset. He had just gotten back from seeing Hermione in the library. But this was _Pansy_ and he was _Harry_.

Pansy didn't grace him with an answer, but that was answer enough for him. Draco leapt to his feet, pacing around his bedside angrily.

"He's with Weasley you know. And he's a Gryffindor. And-"

"I know what he is Draco, alright? You don't think I haven't thought about all this!" Pansy jumped up and grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop walking. "Draco, _please_."

He looked at her carefully and noted the pleading, desperate look in her eyes. She was really coming undone over this and Draco felt his anger leaving him slowly.

"Please Draco. I don't know what I'm doing, alright? I don't. I just need you to be there for me."

Draco stared down at the floor for a long moment before he pulled his arm from her grasp, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to look at her. Pansy seemed to wilt by his side; she looked smaller than usual.

"Just go away Pansy," Draco said, keeping his eyes glued intently to the wall. He could feel Pansy's eyes on him, staring him down. The next moment he heard her footsteps crossing the room, and then the door opening and closing, and then nothing.

He stayed like that for a long time, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, he allowed his muscles to relax and he fell down onto his bed, reaching his long arm under it and dragging out his bag. He unzipped it and riffled inside for the small locket before pulling it out and holding it up above his head. It gleamed in the light of the lanterns in the dungeon room, and he surveyed it carefully before he sighed and put it on his night stand, rolling his back towards it and squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.

* * *

Pansy stared down at the shattered glass by her bed and the discarded picture lying in the middle of the rubble. She tried desperately to keep her emotions at bay, but she couldn't help it. She felt so utterly betrayed. Of course she shouldn't have confided in Draco, but he seemed to have already found out, somehow, and he had looked so angry. She was hoping that if she explained to him that she had no idea what he was doing, then perhaps he'd be more willing to see things her way. But of course, he hadn't.

Pansy reached a hand up and wiped at a tear that slid down her cheek before she gave her head a violent shake. No, she was okay. So Draco didn't want to talk to her anymore. Big deal. She didn't need him anyway. He was pathetic and whiney and annoying. She really tried to believe herself as she stood to her feet and grabbed her bag, heading down to the common room earlier than the rest of her house mates.

She had just reached the portrait hole when she heard the door to the boy's dormitory open. She hurried through the hole and out into the hallway before whoever it was had time to spot her.

Breakfast that morning was difficult and upsetting. Pansy found herself sitting next to Marcus Flint and his gang, and when Draco and Blaise came in a few moments later, Draco walked by her without even glancing her way. Pansy tried not to let this bother her, she really did, and she shook her head again before trying to focus on what Marcus was saying to her.

* * *

Harry entered the Great Hall late that morning. He had trouble sleeping that night, his mind racing with what had happened up in the Astronomy Tower. It felt like another life time, another person's memories that were not his own, and he replayed the events over and over again before he finally fell asleep.

Hermione was already there, looking more tired than she had in days, and Harry cautiously sat next to her, wondering if she was going to yell at him. She looked over at him, eyed him for a long moment, and then told him a quiet good morning. Harry was so relieved that she was even talking to him that he said good morning back, and didn't bother with being furious that she had not given him an apology for yelling at him the other day.

He watched as Hermione's fingers trailed to her neck line twice, as though feeling for something, before falling away with a sigh.

"What's up 'Mione?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Hermione shifted on her seat, her eyes darting over to the Slytherin table. Draco sat with Blaise near the end, eating breakfast and talking intently about something.

"I've lost my necklace, that's all," Hermione said, trying not to sound like she was suspicious about where it could have gone. She had no doubt in her mind, however, that Draco was the one who had it.

"Do you want me to help you look for it after classes?"

Hermione looked over at him, noting momentarily the puffy state of his lips and dark circles under his eyes. She wondered what could have kept him up so late at night, but decided against herself to ask. She shook her head, thankful to have a normal conversation for the first time in what felt like days.

"That's alright, I'm sure it will turn up," she tried offering him a smile and, to her immense relief, he smiled back at her.


	9. Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

 **Warning! This Chapter contains offensive language, references to sensitive topic issues, and brief nudity. Please proceed with this in mind.  Warning!**

 **This one is nice and long for you all, as I've got exams the next few days and don't know when I will be able to post again. I hope you enjoy!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

"Harry, can I talk to you?"

Harry looked up at her. He was a little surprised that she had come over to him, in the middle of the Great Hall. Hermione glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, as though waiting to see what he would do, and he began to fidget in his seat anxiously. Finally, he set down his uneaten piece of toast, wiped off his fingers on his napkin and nodded uncertainly.

"Uh, yeah, sure Ginny."

Ginny waited for him with her arms crossed while he stood to his feet and gathered his things, before following her out into the Entrance Hall. He thought she would want to talk there, but she continued on towards the broom cupboard by the front entrance where Hermione, Ron and he used to hide many times under the invisibility cloak, waiting for the halls to clear at night.

When she closed the cupboard door behind him, the only source of light came through the cracks of the door, leaving them almost in darkness. He could see Ginny's outline shift around, as though she couldn't figure out what to say.

They stood there in awkward silence for a long moment, each waiting for the other to speak, before finally Ginny let out a little sigh.

"Harry I… I'm sorry I've been avoiding you."

Harry's muscles tightened unexpectedly. He hadn't thought that he would be having this conversation this morning. It seemed as though they have been having problems for a while now, and usually they didn't do anything about it. Harry had grown accustomed to their silences and awkward glances. He wondered if Ginny had found out about his night with Pansy, and if that's why she was finally coming to talk to him. His stomach twisted and he wished he hadn't eaten before she had come to find him.

"Well, I haven't exactly been a great person to come and talk to really," Harry admitted, reaching a hand up and scratching at his hair.

Ginny didn't say anything for a long while and Harry was beginning to grow nervous. He had potions class that morning.

"Ginny I've… I've got class soon," he said slowly, not wanting to upset her but also wanting her to get to her point quicker.

"I know, I'm sorry," Ginny said quickly, and her shadowed outline seemed to move a bit closer to him. He could smell her light perfume and the cherry flavored lipstick she wore. His heart gave a little swoop when she whispered again, and she was right in front of him. "What happened to us Harry?"

He shifted uncomfortably, trying to remember. He didn't know when exactly they had begun to grow apart. Sometime upon returning to Hogwarts, when Harry went back to hanging out with Hermione and Ron and Ginny went back to hanging out with all of her friends, and the fear of death wasn't hanging all around them anymore.

"I don't know," he said truthfully, wishing he had something else to tell her. He wished he could tell her it was his fault. That he had done something to make her stop talking to him. But he couldn't think of anything he could have done.

Ginny's fingers touched his hair and he jumped a little before relaxing. Her touch was gentle as she ran her fingers through his mussed hair and then down the side of his face. He heard her breath a little laugh, and the scent of her lipstick overwhelmed him.

"You have stubble on your chin," she said, and there was a hint of a smile on her lips.

Harry reached a hand up in surprise to touch his chin, and apart from the little hairs that seemed to have grown there overnight, his fingers also touched hers. Her hand captured his and he felt his heart dip down into his stomach and come racing back up again.

"I do love you, Harry," Ginny whispered, as though to remind him.

He blinked down at her in the dark. "I love you too Ginny… I think I always have."

There was a moment of silence, of complete stillness, before Ginny's lips touched his. It was gentle and tasted of cherries and jam from breakfast and Harry felt himself fall a little in the dark, even when his feet stayed planted firmly on the ground.

She pulled away and the scent of her stayed behind with him. He didn't know how long they stayed like and he couldn't remember leaving the broom cupboard and heading to potions, but he felt a lightness in his step that he hadn't felt in a long time. It wasn't until he entered the potions room and caught sight of the back of Pansy's head that his insides began to feel a bit queasy again.

* * *

He was acting really odd, Pansy was sure of it. He hardly said a word to her and kept his gaze firmly planted on the textbook in front of him. Pansy thought that coming to potions would be the highlight of what she was sure to be an awful day, but now she was beginning to think otherwise.

Halfway through the lesson of trying to make conversation, Pansy got the hint and immediately stopped talking, staring down at her list of ingredients that she was supposed to be preparing. Her head felt light, like she was going to pass out or be sick or maybe both.

What was she doing? What was she thinking?

Of course she wasn't good enough for Harry saint Potter. She was just Pansy. Just a Slytherin girl. Just a girl from the war who had lost everything except her friends, who now were not speaking with her because she had tried to have something that she knew, had always known, could never be hers. She was a fool.

Pansy didn't know how long she'd sat there, staring at her opened textbook while Harry moved around beside her, grouping things together and checking things off their list, before finally he spoke to her. Pansy almost didn't hear him. It was like he was speaking to her underwater. She didn't move her eyes to look at him.

"Look, Pansy… I realize that things may have gotten, a little out of hand with us. I really enjoyed last night, and I really do think you're different than what I've always thought you were. But… Ginny's my girlfriend, and my best mate's little sister, and my friend. I have to work out with her whatever there is to work out. Properly, you know?"

Pansy's head snapped around to look at him and she wondered if she looked as furious as she felt. Her hands were shaking in her lap and she pressed them together and hid them under the sleeves of her robes.

"Don't worry Potter," she said, her voice coming out in a harsh whisper. Harry seemed to jump back at the use of his surname. "I wouldn't want to be with you if you were the last man on Earth. I mean, what sensible person would want to be with a man who cheats on his girlfriend?"

She grabbed her textbook and parchments up before she could stop herself, stood so fast her chair toppled backwards, and stormed out of the classroom. The door had already slammed shut behind her by the time Slughorn had turned round to see what all the fuss was about.

* * *

Draco and Hermione watched from the other side of the room as Pansy stormed out of potions, slamming the door shut behind her so hard that a few ingredients on people's desks jumped off onto the floor.

"I say, is everything alright Harry m'boy?" Slughorn asked loudly, looking bewildered.

"S'fine sir," Harry stumbled out, red-faced and uncomfortable. "Everything is fine."

Draco caught sight of Blaise looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He tried to ignore him and turned back to his own work. Blaise didn't honestly expect Draco to feel sorry for her, did he? It was Pansy's decision to get wrapped up in Harry, knowing full well that he was involved with Ginny. It wasn't Draco's fault that Pansy was being stupid. She always did stupid things when it came to boys, why did Blaise expect Draco to feel any differently about this one? She'd come round, as she always did, stronger than ever.

"You don't seem too concerned about your friend," Hermione's voice said from his right.

Draco shifted and looked over at her. She was avoiding his eye, as she had been for however long now, and was staring intently at the steps for their potion, even though they weren't even preparing anything today.

"Nor do you," Draco shot back, raising an eyebrow at her. Hermione stiffened by his side and chanced a glance at him, catching his eye.

"She's not my friend," Hermione sniffed indignantly.

"Potter is."

"Yes well, it seems like Harry is finally putting his head back on his shoulders and doing what he is supposed to be doing."

Draco stared at her for a long moment, her locket burning a hole in the pocket of his robes. He debated on revealing it to her, but instantly thought better of it. Though she had been suspicious of him and tried to ask him at the beginning of class if he had taken anything from the library last night, she didn't outright ask him for it back, so he saw no reason to return it.

He didn't know why he was holding onto it. Perhaps he felt that as long as he had it, and as long as Hermione suspected that he had it, she'd have to keep coming back and talking to him. This was important to him, though he had no idea why. She was right about everything, as usual, he admitted begrudgingly. It was only a game and everything was falling apart because they were allowing themselves to get caught up in it. If they just remembered that it was a game, and acted as they should, things could finally go back to normal.

Draco didn't say anything the rest of class, and when the bell finally rang, he stood to his feet before Hermione even had a chance to move and walked over to Blaise, who looked at him with that expressionless look he got on his face whenever he was deep in thought.

"What do you suppose all that was about?" Draco asked, trying to be nonchalant. Blaise merely stared at him. "What?"

"What did Pansy talk to you about last night?"

Draco started at this question. Normally, Blaise was never one to go around asking people questions. If someone didn't want to tell him something, he had always seemed fine with it. He always waited for people to come to him with things, rather than go looking for them. Draco didn't know how to answer this question with a room full of people.

"Later," he said, starting for the door. Most of their peers had left by now.

"No," Blaise said, looking serious. "Now."

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair, and on the walk to Transfiguration, he told Blaise everything. About how Pansy had kissed Harry in the cupboard at the party. About how Draco had kissed Hermione. About how Pansy snuck off to meet Harry last night, even when she knew he was seeing Ginny. About how Draco had gone to confront Hermione, to see if it was even affecting her like it was affecting him, to see if she was dating Ron so that he wouldn't find himself in the awkward situation that Pansy was. About how Pansy had told him everything and he had told her to go away and that she had left without a word.

Blaise soaked it all in, his eyes gazing out in an unfocused sort of way, though he never bumped into anything or stumbled on their long trek out of the dungeons and up to the Transfiguration room. By the time they walked inside and sat themselves down, Blaise taking Pansy's usual seat beside him as she seemed to be skipping, Draco had finished telling him everything and was not waiting to see what he would say.

Blaise took his time pulling out his textbook and contemplating everything that he had heard and Draco stared him down, hoping that he would shed some light on what all of them should do. Finally, Blaise turned and looked at him.

"And what do you think Pansy should have done?" Blaise asked.

Draco blinked at him in surprise, his mouth gaping words that did not form. "Well, she… she should have left it alone, obviously," Draco said after a while. "It's Potter after all. What did she expect?"

"So why don't you leave Granger alone?"

Draco wished he hadn't involved Blaise at all.

"That's different," he grumbled, running his hand through his hair and pulling his textbook towards him. He had never paid so much attention to his textbooks as he had today.

"How so?" Blaise asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Because it is Blaise. I'm not following Granger around because I like her or because I'm attracted to her. I just want to make sure that the memory of that night is giving her hell."

"Why?"

Draco felt anger beginning to course through him. Blaise had never asked questions before, and now that he was, Draco was starting to hate him.

"Because… because," Draco stopped, staring hard at the words in front of him, but they seemed to blur together and he couldn't read them.

"Because it's giving you hell?" Blaise suggested, unpacking his quill and inkwell and setting them up. "Because you keep thinking about it as well?"

Draco didn't say anything and a few moments later Professor McGonagall came swooping into the room in a rush of billowing cloaks. She began her lecture the same way she always did, with a stern, clipped tone, but Draco couldn't focus. He leaned back in his chair and stared unseeingly at his open textbook, a scowl on his pale lips. Hermione's locket seemed to weigh a ton in his pocket and he resisted the urge to reach his fingers down and take it out.

"Maybe you should talk to Pansy," Blaise whispered out of the corner of his mouth a few minutes later. Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair before nodding his head in agreement.

* * *

Hermione walked beside Harry in a reserved silence after Transfiguration class. Harry didn't say anything, but Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't want to go to the Great Hall for lunch as everyone else was doing. She followed him off course and they started up a flight of stairs, neither of them saying anything.

Hermione's fingers kept trailing up to her neckline, groping for her necklace that she knew was not there. It was strange, because when she had been wearing it she almost always forgot that it was there. But now that it was gone, Hermione couldn't help but feel the weight of its absence every minute of the day.

She knew that Draco had it. She knew he, somehow, must have taken it from her. Maybe it was when she had shoved him away. His hand had been clasped around her neck and when he had stumbled backwards, perhaps he had broken the latch and taken it with him. She knew it seemed unlikely, but he must have it.

Thinking of that night brought a flush of color to Hermione's cheeks and she tried desperately to push those thoughts away.

"What did Ginny want to talk to you about this morning?" Hermione asked, wishing that the silence around them would go away. They weren't fighting anymore, but Harry still seemed reluctant to talk to her about something, and she had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Ginny. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that Ginny had broken up with Harry that morning, and that would explain his new found silence. So when he spoke, she was surprised by what he told her.

"She wanted to remind me that she loved me," Harry said quietly as they made their way along a deserted corridor.

"Oh," Hermione said, trying not to sound shocked. "And what did you say?"

"That I loved her too."

Silence engulfed them once more save for the sound of their shoes hitting the concrete floor.

"And do you?" she asked timidly, almost afraid to hear his answer. Harry didn't say anything for a moment, running his fingers through his hair, before he nodded resolutely.

"I think so."

They rounded a corner and stopped almost instantly at the sight of two figures at the end of the corridor in front of the Charms classroom. Pansy Parkinson stood, looking confident and certain as she stared up into the face of Marcus Flint, who was talking to her in low terms. He gave her a little smirk, reaching a hand up and touching her newly cut hair. Pansy neither giggled nor blushed at whatever compliment he had given her, but instead crossed her arms over her chest, pulling herself up to her full height and grinning mischievously.

Hermione tried to continue the conversation and act as though the two Slytherins weren't there.

"Well, that's good then, isn't it?" She looked at Harry, but he seemed not to have heard her. His green eyes gazed fixedly on the couple at the end of the corridor, and his content attitude seemed to be replaced with one of anxiety and irritation. "Harry?"

Harry blinked and looked at her, but his eyes seemed unable to leave the couple for very long. Marcus leaned down and whispered something into Pansy's ear, her hand coming up to rest easily on his bicep. She gave a little laugh and Harry felt his cheeks warm up.

"I have to go," Harry said suddenly, turning on his heels and rushing away. Hermione watched him go with a bewildered expression on her face. She thought about calling out to him, then thought better of it and snapped her mouth shut.

* * *

Harry didn't know what was wrong with him. He felt an indescribable anger bubbling up inside of him and he headed instantly for the Quidditch Pitch. He had no idea what else to do but to fly. He needed to clear his head.

 _I love Ginny._

He repeated this thought over and over in his head as he gripped hard to handle of his broomstick, chasing after the little fleck of gold that was the Golden Snitch. He had borrowed it from the Gryffindor changing rooms.

 _I love Ginny. I love Ginny. I love Ginny._

He dived after the snitch when it dropped quickly to the ground. He spiraled after it, and though he came close a few times, he never lifted his hand out to catch it. He just kept following it, round and round the pitch, flying faster and then slowing down and waiting for it to pull ahead before flying after it again.

 _I love Ginny._

"Arrgh!" he shook his head and his broomstick wobbled, sending him down a few feet before he quickly hoisted himself back up again and regained control. He stayed hovering in one spot, pressing the heels of his palms roughly into his eyes and sighing. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He had thought that he had finally figured out what he wanted. When he had been in the broom cupboard with Ginny that morning, everything had seemed so simple and clear.

Of course he loved Ginny. He had known her most of his life. She was his best mate's younger sister. They always got along well enough. She played Quidditch and was smart. She was very pretty and she loved him. And he loved her.

So why did the thought of Pansy being with Marcus the way that she had been with Harry bother him so much? Why did his stomach get queasy at the thought of her kissing him, and touching him, and smirking up at him?

" _I want you to shut up and kiss me, Marcus Flint."_

Harry sneered and shook his head out again, running frustrated fingers through his hair before the snitch zipped in and out of sight to his right. Feeling furious, he plunged after it.

* * *

Draco found out from Blaise, though he was sure news would have traveled to him at some point through the school, as it always seemed to do. He stared at Blaise at the Slytherin table that night at dinner, hoping he had heard Blaise wrong. She couldn't. She _wouldn't_.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, even though he already knew the answer. He could see it from the anger on Blaise's face that he was not trying to pull a fast one.

"Heard it from Marcus himself," Blaise mumbled angrily, piling food onto his plate. "Apparently Pansy approached him first. Asked if he wouldn't mind forgiving _her_ and getting back together with her."

Draco felt an anger boil up inside of him that he had not felt in years. It was like a wound had been reopened and was gushing copious amounts of feeling throughout his body.

"What does she think she's doing?" Draco roared, unable to bring himself to care that he had attracted the attention of multiple people around him.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Blaise said, taking a bite of his chicken wing and looking at Draco with an unsettling expression. "Potter's gone and left her for his girlfriend, hasn't he?"

Draco stared at Blaise for a long time, his brain working slowly. No. Pansy wasn't that stupid. She wouldn't let Potter drive her back into the arms of that boy. She just wouldn't. But it seemed as though she already had. Draco scanned the length of the Slytherin table, hoping to spot her raven hair, but she seemed to be absent from the table. So did, to Draco's disbelief, Marcus Flint.

Before Blaise could stop him, Draco was grabbing up his bag and getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked, already realizing that no matter what he said he would not be able to make Draco sit back down.

"I have to find her."

He legs immediately carried him back to the Slytherin common room. He sneered the password and disappeared inside, scanning the common room for any signs of them, but it was completely empty. Draco's eyes landed on the stairwell leading to the boy's dormitory and an ugly look of fury came over his pale face. His bag fell to his feet as he hurried down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and burst into the boy's dormitory.

A scream sounded and Pansy grabbed for the blankets, pulling them up to cover her naked chest. Her wild eyes landed on Draco and her blood ran cold inside her veins at the look on his face.

"Draco, don't, wait," Pansy said immediately, pushing Marcus away and sitting up. She held a hand out towards him, as though it would keep him at bay. His wild, gray eyes darted first from her, then to Marcus and back again. His hands seemed to shake by his side and his jaw was clenched so tight that Pansy could see a vein in his neck. "Draco, you don't understand. Just listen, okay?"

"What the _fuck_?" Draco hadn't heard a word she said. He was on Marcus in an instant, grabbing him by the hair and arm and yanking him up from the bed. Marcus took a swing at him, colliding with his shoulder, but Draco's fury pushed through the rush of pain. He tossed the shorter man aside and Marcus stumbled backwards, crashing down onto another bed.

"Draco stop!" Pansy screamed, abandoning her sheets and rushing towards him. She grabbed his hand just as he reached for his wand in his pocket. He shook her hand off and she grabbed his face with her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Draco please, let me explain. Just talk to me. Just me."

Draco tried to keep Marcus in his line of sight as he pulled himself up from the bed, but Pansy was persistent and kept getting in his way. He noted the tears streaking down her face, mingling with her mascara and he froze, catching eyes with her. Marcus reached up and wiped sweat from his forehead, sneering at the pair of them. He didn't say anything as he grabbed for his shirt and bag and disappeared from the room, slamming the door hard behind him.

Draco ripped his face out of Pansy's hands, stalking to the other side of the room and turning his back on her. Silence stretched between them for a long time before Draco suddenly turned on her, his face red.

"What do you think you're doing?" he yelled. Pansy was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face and her breasts hanging freely in the open. Neither of them seemed to notice her half naked state.

"Draco, you don't understand-"

"After everything he did in our fifth year, and you go back to him? After Blaise and I stuck our necks out for you, and lost our positions on the Quidditch team for you, and got detentions for _you_ , you go _back_ to him?" Draco was yelling so loud and Pansy grabbed her face with her hands as though it were too much to handle, keeping her eyes closed.

"Draco I-"

"He nearly killed you Pansy!" Draco roared, throwing his hands up in the air and looking at her as though she'd gone mad. Tears started to pour more heavily down Pansy's face, though she didn't make a sound, and she sat down on the bed behind her, pushing her hands up to hide her face. He stared down at her while she cried and all of his anger seemed to cycle through him in waves. He did not approach her or try to console her. "What are you _doing_?"

"I don't know!" Pansy looked up at him pleadingly, her voice shaky and watery. "I don't know, I… I talked with H-Harry and-" Pansy whimpered as Draco threw his hands up in the air again with frustration at the mention of Harry's name, rolling his eyes aggressively.

"And what Pansy? Did Potter tell you that you can't be his side chick anymore, because he's got a girlfriend? Did he remind you what sort of game you've been playing for the past week? Did he offend you because he didn't want to sleep with you any-"

"I didn't sleep with him!" and Pansy was on her feet again, looking furious and upset at the same time. "I… I…"

"What Pansy?" Draco asked incredulously. They stared each other down for a long moment before Pansy finally let out a heart shattering breath.

"I think I really liked him Draco."

Draco stared at her, watched her sit back down and shove her hands over her face and let out a strangled sob. His anger ebbed away and he felt his shoulders slump a little. He stayed where he was for a long time, torn as to what he should do and what he should be feeling. Finally, when Pansy's cries seemed to fade a little, Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He walked over to his bed and grabbed up one of his sheets before he walked over to her and sat down beside her, pulling the sheet around her shoulders. She grabbed it and tightened it around her chest, as though just realizing that the top of her was completely naked.

She leaned into him, her face pressing into his neck and soaking the neckline of his sweater. Her hands reached blindly and grabbed his arm, squeezing it tightly. His shoulder burned with pain and he clenched his teeth tight to prevent himself from saying anything.

Another long moment passed in which neither of them said anything until finally Pansy lifted her head away from him and reached a hand up to wipe away her mascara.

"You have to break up with him," Draco said, with a tone of finality. There was no arguing it.

Pansy looked at him, her eyes sweeping over his pale face as though trying to read him, before she finally gave a little nod.

"Okay," she whispered.

"What are you going to do about Potter?" Draco asked, feeling uncomfortable. Pansy gave a little shrug, tugging his sheet tighter around herself and staring off at the other side of the room.

"Nothing, I suppose," she said quietly. Draco looked at her but she shook her head. "You're right Draco. Of course. I've been playing a stupid game."

Silence passed and Draco lifted a hand, clasping his fingers around the base of Pansy's neck and pulling her to him. She leaned her cheek against his shoulder and sighed into the fabric of his sweater. Draco's thoughts raced, and his anger began to come back as he thought of Harry. If it weren't for boy wonder, Pansy wouldn't be like this at all. What did he think he was doing? Playing her and his girlfriend at the same time. Unable to find anything else to focus his anger and blame on, Draco blamed Harry.

"Get dressed Pansy," Draco said stiffly through clenched teeth as he stood. Pansy eyed him wearily, unsettled by his sudden tone.

"Draco?"

"I said get dressed," Draco said before storming out of the boy's dormitory. Pansy stared after him with horror before she tossed his sheet aside and leapt to her feet, rushing for her clothes piled in a heap next to Marcus' bed.

* * *

By the time Pansy reached the Entrance Hall, she could hear yelling coming from the Great Hall. A stone dropped into the pit of her stomach as she tried to straighten her hair before she hurried into the room. The sight before her eyes as soon as she entered was enough to make her stop dead.

Sparks were flying from the end of Hermione's wand as she forced a Slytherin girl to go flying backwards. Ginny Weasley was screaming at something that Pansy couldn't see. She scanned the yelling crowd for Blaise or Draco but she could not find either of them. Her heart began to pound hard when she finally made out what Ginny was screaming.

"Harry! Leave him alone! Stop it!"

Pansy forced her way through the crowd, growing more and more anxious until she finally broke free into the circle that had formed in the center. On the floor, wands forgotten or tossed away somewhere, lay Draco and Harry, tight in a flurry of fists and blood.

"Draco!" Pansy screamed, rushing forward just as Hermione did, who seemed to have warded off the other Slytherins who had been quick to jump in on the fight.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled at the same time, stopping just short of the flailing limbs of the two boys.

Harry gave a swing, his glasses askew and a cut bleeding from his forehead, and missed connecting with Draco's chin, who had blood gushing from his nose onto the front of his sweater. Draco took advantage of Harry's missed swing and rolling on top of him, pinning him down and raising his fist back. He launched it forward, connecting with Harry's nose. Pansy and Hermione and Ginny screamed at the same time, their voices conjoined and mingled and unintelligent.

Draco pulled his arm back and let it go again, punching Harry's face harder than before. Harry could see stars burst in front of him and the edges of his vision began to fade.

"Draco stop it! Stop!" Pansy screamed, fumbling in her pocket for her wand. It was Hermione who rushed forward, reaching with her hands and yelling.

Everything in the next few seconds happened so quickly, even when they seemed to last forever.

Draco's fist flung back and hit Hermione in the cheek. She stumbled backwards, yelping in pain, and Ginny rushed forward to grab her before she fell. Draco whipped around to see who he had struck and a panicked look seemed to overcome his furious expression. Harry took the advantage of Draco being distracted and flailed blindly, landing a hit on Draco's groin. Draco yelled out, keeling over onto his side, squeezing his eyes shut tight and gripping his groin, trying to stop the pain. Pansy screamed, rushing forward, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

Blaise pulled her back and quickly over took her, rushing towards Draco and grabbing him by the arm, pulling him away from Harry's flailing limbs.

Professor McGonagall came barring down on them and the crowd quickly dispersed for fear of being involved in what had happened. Pansy took the moment of everyone's movement to rush towards Harry, falling onto her knees and looking at his bruised and bloody face.

"Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't know he would do this," she tried to say, though she wasn't sure if he could hear her.

Professor McGonagall looked at the group of them, taking them all in with a furious expression on her face. Blaise trying to pull Draco to his feet and Draco, groaning loudly, refusing to stand with his hands between his legs. Ginny pulling Hermione up, who clutched her cheek with tears brimming in her eyes. Harry shoving Pansy away, trying to ebb the flow of blood that was pouring into his eyes from his head.

"Potter, Malfoy, to the hospital wing, immediately. Zabini, Parkinson, Weasley, Granger, in my office, _now_."


	10. Temptations

**Author's Note:**

 **Finals suck, but I only have one more, so here's a new chapter to celebrate my almost freedom! I hope you all enjoy, as I'm having so much fun writing this fanfic!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

"Well you see, what it is-"

"-It's just a misunderstanding really-"

"-Honestly not sure what got into them-"

"-Will they be in detention-"

"-Personally think there's nothing to discuss-"

"-How long will they be-"

" _That is quite enough_." Professor McGonagall's stern voice rose above the chatter and Hermione, Pansy and Ginny fell silent instantly. Blaise stood next to Pansy, not having said a word since being hauled away from the Great Hall by McGonagall. Her angry, beady eyes looked at them each in turn before they landed on Blaise. "Zabini. You seem awfully quiet about all of this. _What is going on_?"

All pairs of eyes turned on Blaise, who shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his slacks and glanced over at Pansy and Hermione, who were both giving him pleading looks. A moment of silence passed between all of them. McGonagall's patience seemed to be running thin.

"Storming out of classes," she gave a pointed look at Hermione and Pansy, who both blushed and averted their eyes, "fighting in the Great Hall, sneaking out after hours. Not to mention you and your partners are all behind in your potion's requirement for this week. I will not ask again. What is going on?"

There was a ripple as each of them shifted uncomfortably on their feet before Blaise finally spoke, slowly and cautiously, as though testing the waters. "Well, there was a party a bit ago, an inter-house unity thing."

Pansy elbowed Blaise in the side and Hermione and Ginny were giving him death glares.

"What does that have to do with anything Zabini?" McGonagall asked, looking older than ever. Blaise tottered on the edge, his eyes glancing at the other's angry faces.

"Nothing, really," he finally muttered, glaring at Pansy.

"If neither of you will come forward, then all six of you can serve detention."

"But professor," Hermione protested while Ginny's mouth fell open. "We didn't do anything!"

"I think you've done quite enough," McGonagall said, eyeing them over the rim of her glasses sternly. Silence fell over the room again and none of them spoke, all looking disgruntled and unhappy. "Now I will not repeat myself so listen carefully. We have _rules_ here at Hogwarts. Surely you four would know better than anyone why they are in place. Now, if I hear from any of your professors that there are more problems, I must warn you the consequences will be most severe."

Hermione visibly paled more than anyone else.

"Do I make myself clear?"

There was a mumbled chorus of "Yes professor" before McGonagall sighed and took off her glasses, cleaning them on her robes.

"Very well. You will serve your detention with Filch this Friday at 5 o'clock. And when you talk with Potter and Malfoy, please inform them that their attendance is mandatory."

Pansy was the first to turn for the door, Blaise following after her with Hermione and Ginny at his heels. As soon as the door closed, Ginny gave an irritated huff and rounded on Pansy, who stopped in her tracks and turned her glaring eyes onto the red-head.

"What did your boything think he was doing, attacking Harry like that?"

"It wasn't Draco's fault," Pansy said through gritted teeth.

"Then it must have been yours," Ginny said, taking a step towards her. "Harry is _my_ boyfriend Pansy."

Pansy snorted with an eye roll. "You sure about that Weasley?"

Ginny lunged forward but Hermione grabbed her before she could do any damage. Pansy took a step back right into Blaise, who closed his hands around Pansy's arms and kept her pressed back against him to prevent her from doing anything stupid.

"Ginny _no_! You heard what McGonagall said!" Hermione said sternly.

"I don't care! This _bitch_ needs to learn her place!"

Pansy sneered, unable to stop herself. "I might be stepping out of my place but trust me, I'm not stepping into yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny glared.

"Don't you get it Weasley? You're losing him, because you're too wrapped up in yourself-"

"Harry and I already talked about this," Ginny said angrily, struggling against Hermione, who was quickly losing her hold on her. Ginny was much stronger than her. "Besides, my relationship is none of _your_ business you _skank_!" Ginny broke free from Hermione's grip but Blaise seemed to be one step ahead of them, letting go of Pansy and placing himself between the two of them. Ginny ran into him, reaching her arms around his large frame to try and snag Pansy, who glared at her from behind Blaise's back, her hands clenched into fists by her sides.

"Apparently it _is_ , since Harry felt the need to tell me-"

"Stop. Calling. Him. Harry!" Ginny tried to force Blaise aside, but Blaise grabbed her wrists and held her at bay. Hermione seemed to be anxiously looking at McGonagall's door to ensure that their professor couldn't hear the noise they were making and come running out to give them even worse punishments.

"Just let it go!" Blaise yelled, shoving Ginny away. Ginny stumbled back several steps and Hermione rushed forward, grabbing her by her shoulders.

"Ginny, let's go," Hermione whispered.

Blaise and Ginny glared at each other before suddenly tears of frustration started to dot in Ginny's eyes. She reached a sleeve up and impatiently wiped them away.

"Fine," she hissed before ripping her shoulders out of Hermione's grip and stomping off down the corridor.

Hermione didn't even look at Blaise or Pansy as she hurried after her, and in the next minute they had both disappeared around the corner. Pansy was breathing heavy, her hands shaking by her sides and her lips pressed tight together. Blaise was watching the corner the two Gryffindors had disappeared down, as though waiting for them to reappear and try to start another fight. When nothing seemed to happen and Pansy finally calmed down a bit, Blaise turned to look at her. His face was stoic as he watched her slowly try to control herself.

She reached a hand up and brought it through her hair before she looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

" _What_?"

* * *

Harry winced as Madame Pomfrey dabbed at his bleeding nose with a wet washcloth and then pressed it firmly there while she babbled on about proper code of conduct and the complications of muggle-styled fighting injuries.

"Magical injuries I can fix in a pinch but non-magical?" she huffed under her breath haughtily, commanding him to hold the washcloth to his nose while she bustled over to where Draco sat a few beds down. They had been instructed to stay on opposite ends of the hospital wing when they arrived.

Draco was doubled over on his bed, with an ice pack held tightly between his legs and his face scrunched up in pain.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy. That will hurt for a bit longer before the ice helps it," she said, prodding his sides and surveying if any other part of him was injured. "Do you need me to look at it?"

Draco's face seemed to turn a bright red that Harry figured had nothing to do with the pain he was experiencing and he shook his head vigorously, waving his hand at her to shoo her away. Madame Pomfrey came back to Harry's bed and took the washcloth from him, surveying his nose.

"Well Mr. Potter, it's definitely broken, I'm going to have to put it back in place."

Harry grimaced at the idea of having his nose set back in place. He'd let Luna Lovegood fix his nose once before, ironically after Draco had been the one to break it, and he remembered the moment of pain that would come along with it. He gripped the edges of the bed and waiting tensely as Madame Pomfrey retrieved her wand and held it up to him.

" _Episkey_."

A loud crack echoed through the room as Harry's nose slid back into place and a fresh bout of blood came rushing over his lips. Madame Pomfrey quickly handed him back the washcloth and ordered him to stem the flow.

After twenty minutes of her dancing back and forth between the two of them, she finally nodded her head and said, "That's about as good as it's going to get boys. You can go back to your dormitories now."

Harry and Draco didn't look at each other as they walked (Draco limped) out of the hospital wing and went their separate ways.

It took Harry ten minutes to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady, and he wished it had taken much longer. He had no idea what he was going to say to Ginny or Hermione, or anyone really if they came asking questions. How could he tell them that Draco had pummeled him because he was making out with his best mate behind his girlfriend's back? Harry shook his head back to the present when the Fat Lady addressed him.

"Not getting into anymore trouble, are you Potter?" she eyed him suspiciously and he sighed in annoyance before giving the password. She huffed and swung open for him and he clambered through the hole with dread filling up his stomach.

He had just entered the common room when Ginny came down from the girl's dormitory and looked at him. Harry stopped still and waited for her to do something. She eyed him carefully before walking over to the couch to grab a discarded book without saying a word. The common room was practically empty, save for a few second years studying Charms in the corner.

"You're not even going to say anything to me?" Harry asked angrily, unable to help him.

Ginny paused halfway back to the girl's dormitory and turned to look at him, hugging her book to her chest and suddenly looking eleven again. "What do you want me to say Harry?"

Harry stared at her, unable to come up with an answer. He didn't know what he wanted her to say, but he didn't want to fight through the silent treatment all over again. Not after they had just gotten out of it. _I love Ginny_ , he thought to himself, shifting on his feet. Ginny sighed and took a few steps towards him, close enough that if she lowered her voice he could still hear her, but far enough away that he could not reach out and touch her.

"Do you like her Harry?"

Harry blinked at this question. He knew who she was talking about, but he really didn't know what to tell her. He didn't know how he felt about Pansy. He knew that sometimes it was really nice to talk to her, and she never seemed to judge him, and sometimes he caught himself thinking about kissing her and touching her naked thighs, and sometimes she plagued his dreams in the most sinister of ways, but other times he really thought that he loved Ginny and that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if she left. He stared at her, his mouth working but his mind not being able to come up with anything to say.

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

"Ginny."

She stopped but she didn't turn back to look at him. Harry shifted uncomfortably. The second years had turned to watch them curiously.

"I'm sorry Ginny I… I don't know what I'm doing," Harry said lamely.

"I can see that," Ginny whispered over her shoulder. "We have detention with Filch on Friday. All of us." Before Harry could say anything she was hurrying for the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Harry waited until her footsteps dissolved before he let out a heavy sigh and walked over to the couch, falling down onto it and running a hand through his hair.

* * *

Draco grunted as walked through the portrait hole to the Slytherin common room. He didn't know how late it was, but he was assuming that most of his fellow Slytherins would be in their beds by now. He was partially correct as he glanced around and surveyed the emptiness of the room, but his eyes landed on two figures standing in the middle of the room. Pansy and Blaise.

Blaise looked concerned about something, his arms crossed and one of his hands resting over his mouth, with his eyebrows pulled together in a look of deep concentration. Pansy was muttering to him, wringing her hands together uncertainly, her eyes never stopping to rest on one thing for longer than a few seconds.

When the portrait hole closed behind him, Blaise and Pansy both whipped around to see who had entered. Pansy turned to him and Blaise's face instantly became expressionless, as though they weren't just having a very deep, serious conversation.

"Hey hero," Pansy said, giving him a little smile. Draco raised an eyebrow as he winced at the shot of pain that soared through his left leg. He hated to admit it, but Harry really got him good with that hit.

"Hero?" Draco asked, his voice sounding husky.

Pansy walked over to him, gingerly touching his arm.

"You do realize you beat up two guys for me today."

Draco smirked a little, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm a pretty tough guy," just as the words passed his lips another shot of pain pulsed from his groin and he grunted louder, resisting the urge to reach down and grab himself.

Pansy's smile grew a little wider, though it didn't seem to reach her eyes, which looked a little red.

"I can see that," she said, giving his arm a little tug and guiding him over to the couches. It took him a bit to sit down but when he did, Pansy sat next to him and curled her legs up under herself. Blaise took the armchair by the fire and stayed in the background of the conversation, looking deep in thought.

"What were you two talking about when I came in?" Draco asked, eyeing both of them.

Pansy shot a look at Blaise, who seemed to not have heard anything, or at least pretended he hadn't, as he continued to stare off into space. Pansy gave a little shrug, running her fingers through the fringe of Draco's hair.

"Nothing, it's not important."

Draco wanted to say that it had looked important, and that after everything he had done for her today she really had no right to keep a secret from him, but he was far too tired and he laid his head on Pansy's shoulder, allowing her to caress his hair. Suddenly a troubling thought re-entered his mind, one he had been trying hard to push back. He shifted uncomfortably on the leather couch, causing Pansy's fingers to still in their work.

"Did I… hit Granger in the Great Hall?"

Pansy bit her lip, wondering how she could work this without him feeling awful.

"It was an accident, anyone could see that," Pansy said, but when she felt Draco try to sit up, she quickly rushed on, "She was the one who came running forward. It's not your fault you can't see behind you. You don't have eyes in the back of your head."

Draco pushed himself up and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and burying his face into his hands. He let out a long sigh before he ruffled his hair up and slowly stood to his feet.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," he said. "Blaise, are you coming?"

Again, Blaise either didn't hear him or continued to pretend he hadn't, and Draco repeated himself a bit loud.

"Blaise, are you coming?"

Blaise blinked and looked round at him before shaking his head a little. "No, I'm alright. Gonna stay up a bit longer."

Draco glanced between Blaise and Pansy before he sighed in defeat and started towards the boy's dormitory.

He had just awkwardly taken his clothes off and slid into bed when the door opened and Pansy's head peeped in at him.

"Are you sleeping?" she asked and Draco snorted with an eye roll.

"Obviously not."

Pansy edged her way into the room, glancing discreetly at Marcus' sleeping figure in the bed next to the door before she started towards Draco's bed. She pulled the sheets back a little and squeezed into bed next to him, forcing him to move over. They stayed like that for a long time, staring up at the dark ceiling. Draco placed one hand under his head and the other on his pale stomach and Pansy played with her fingernails. After a while, when someone's snores started to fill the room, Draco whispered to her.

"What do you want Pansy?"

Pansy hesitated before sighing and putting her hands over her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered back. "I'm so confused Draco. I know I have to break up with Marcus, and I'm terrified to do that because I don't know how he'll react. We haven't slept together yet and normally he doesn't like me leaving unless I've already slept with him. But I really don't want to. And you were so brave today, standing up for me, but Harry," Pansy's voice trailed off and they laid in silence again.

Pansy rolled onto her side and looked at him in the dark. He glanced over at her, and though he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was staring at him.

"We have detention with Filch on Friday," she said in the dark. Draco let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head as though it would relieve some of his frustration.

"What did you guys tell McGonagall? I'm assuming she had lots of questions."

"Nothing… Blaise wanted to tell her everything, but we were sort of all in agreement that we didn't want McGonagall to know about, well, what we've been up to outside the classrooms."

Draco nodded and a silence fell over them again. Finally, Pansy spoke.

"Thank you Draco," she whispered and her hand found his lying on his stomach in the dark. She gave his hand a little squeeze and Draco gave her one back.

"No problem Pansy."

The bed shifted and Pansy placed a light kiss on Draco's forehead before her hand disappeared from his fingers and the bed squeaked as she slowly got up. Draco stared up at the ceiling until he heard the door close behind her before he rolled onto his side and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

Hermione stared into the mirror of the bathroom, noticing the small mark beginning to form on her cheek. It really wasn't anything. Maybe the size of her pinky nail and she reached a hand up to touch it. She knew she shouldn't have raced forward like that, she knew it was stupid, but she couldn't take the sight of Draco hitting Harry like that.

She thought back to the panicked look that had crossed Draco's face when he wheeled around and realized who it was that he had hit. She didn't know why it mattered who it was, since he seemed to have no problem hitting Harry in the face over and over again.

Hermione shifted before she let out a heavy sigh and turned off the light, going back to the girl's dormitory. She had just entered the room when Ginny stirred from her sleep, still looking defeated and tired from yesterday. She had been furious and upset, but mostly, Hermione thought, she had been hurt.

Ginny glanced at Hermione, shook her head before she could say anything and then turned her back on her to go back to sleep. Hermione thought about forcing her to talk to her before she decided against it and quickly changed out of her pajamas and into her robes. The sun was shining through the windows of the common room as she came down the stairs, but Harry seemed to be nowhere in sight.

With everything going on, Hermione thought her head would explode and she decided to grab her book and head for some place quiet before classes started later that day. Some place nobody would be on a chilly October morning. The Quidditch Pitch.

She walked through the castle with her mind on autopilot until she reached the Entrance Hall, where a flash of blonde hair caused her steps to falter a little. Draco was walking with Pansy and Blaise on either side of him up from the dungeons to the Great Hall. She hurried her steps, hoping they wouldn't spot her, and quickly headed out the front doors and across the grounds towards the pitch.

She reached it quickly, her breath escaping her mouth in little puffs of smoke as she climbed the stands and settled herself down somewhere in the middle. She bundled herself up into her robes and opened her book. Though it was a bit chilly, the silence brought peace to her loud mind and she felt herself beginning to become absorbed by the words in front of her.

She had only read a page and a half, however, before the sounds of footsteps on wood brought her attention back to reality. She glanced up and instantly caught sight of the only person she had been hoping to avoid; Draco Malfoy.

Not bothering to hide her groan, Hermione forced her attention back to her book, intent on ignoring him. His footsteps grew louder and louder as he slowly climbed the stands towards where she was sitting, before he finally pulled to a stop right beside her. His legs were so close they were almost brushing against her knees and she tried to pretend he wasn't there.

Until a flash of gold passed in her peripheral vision. Hermione's head jerked up and she caught sight of her locket, dangling from Draco's fingers in front of her face, the sun reflecting off the surface and making it sparkle. Hermione felt relief rush through her and then anger at him for taking it from her. She didn't even ask how he had come to have it before she reached up to grab it, but Draco moved it out of her reach with Seeker like reflexes.

"Not until you talk to me," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione huffed stubbornly and stared at her locket longingly before she slammed her book closed, flopped it into her lap and glared up at him.

"What?" she asked haughtily.

Suddenly he was sitting beside her, much too close for her comfort, and staring into her face. His face was so close to hers that she could see the blemish of a scar on his chin and a small divot on his forehead and the tiny mole that sat on his cheek. His hand reached up to touch her and she jerked away from him instinctually.

"What do you want?" she asked, her tone becoming angrier.

His hand stayed suspended in the air before he let it drop and ran frustrated fingers through his platinum locks. The wind swept his bangs aside and he sighed, rubbing his hands together with the locket clasped between them.

"I wasn't aiming to hit you," he grumbled out. "Granted, you do deserve it, after you hit me in third year. I guess we're square now."

Hermione glared at him, though she couldn't help the blush that crept into her cheeks at the memory of her fist connecting with his face. Even though _he_ had deserved it then.

"You shouldn't have been aiming to hit anyone," Hermione chided. Draco didn't agree with her, but he didn't seem to disagree either. He didn't say anything as he stared across the empty Quidditch Pitch at the other side of the stands.

Hermione held out her hand. "My locket," she demanded, though her voice was quieter.

Draco glanced at her before he lifted the locket in front of her and let it drop into her palm. Her fingers closed protectively around it and she pulled it to her, examining it closely. The lock was fixed. She eyed Draco suspiciously before she unclasped it and held it up to her neck, struggling to clip it on through her mane of wild hair. The wind blowing and numbing her fingers didn't help her at all.

Draco shifted beside her while she struggled for a moment before he finally turned to her.

"Just let me do it."

"I'm quite capable of doing it myself," Hermione huffed.

"Oh yes, I can see that," Draco snorted with an eye roll.

Hermione struggled for another minute before she glared and handed the locket to him. Draco hesitantly took it from her and Hermione eyed him even more suspiciously before she slowly turned her back on him and lifted her hair up into a pony tail, exposing her long neck. Draco fiddled with the locket for a moment before he lifted it over her head and brought it around her neck. He clasped the lock, his fingers brushing the little wisps of hair at the base of her neck, and he held his hands there for a moment.

He could see the goosebumps rising on her neck where his fingers just barely touched. Hermione didn't lower her hair, even when she felt the familiar weight of the locket against her neck, because Draco's fingers had not moved.

Finally, after a long pause, Draco removed his hands and Hermione let her hair fall back into place. She cleared her throat and turned to face forward again, fiddling with the locket between her fingers. They stayed silent, each avoiding looking at each other, before Hermione glanced up at him.

"Why did you attack Harry?" she whispered, as though someone could be listening in on their conversation.

Draco eyed her for a moment before he gave a little shrug. "Dunno… he was upsetting Pansy," he grumbled, glancing down and scuffing his shoes nonchalantly against the wood of the stands.

"You… did it for Pansy?"

Draco looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowing together as he tried to place the strange tone that had entered Hermione's voice.

"She's one of my best mates," he said, nodding his head.

Hermione played with her locket, looking at him, and he looked back at her. She noted, very briefly, that his pale eyes glanced quickly down at her lips and back again, and she felt the familiar blush creep up into her cheeks that she always seemed to get now whenever he was around.

" _You want me to what Granger? Stop?"_

Hermione felt her lips part and she looked away from him. Her heart was pounding fast in her chest and she tried to gain control of herself. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Draco didn't have any redeeming qualities about him, especially not beating the Merlin out of her best friend. But he had done it for Pansy. Hermione wondered, vaguely, what it would be like if someone beat up a boy who was making her feel bad. She knew Ron had no problem beating people up for her, but he didn't do that anymore. He didn't do a lot of things anymore.

"Granger?"

Hermione glanced at him quickly before looking away again. She didn't want him to look into her eyes and be able to see what she was thinking. That she was thinking about their night in the broom cupboard.

" _No I… I don't want you to stop."_

Fingers touched her hair and Hermione whipped around to see Draco looking intently at her. His pale lips were parted, and redder on the inside than the outside, and his cheeks were flushed from the cold and his hair was blown from the wind and he was looking at her like she was something to be conquered. Her heart raced faster.

 _No, don't do this_. She tried to coach herself. _It will only cause more trouble._

She caught sight of his knuckles, and how purple and bruised they looked from his fight. She pressed her knees together, trying not to squirm. His bruised hand lifted and grabbed her cheek before she could move out of his reach, forcing her to look at him. His piercing eyes were daunting and absorbed her completely.

He seemed to hesitate, as though she were going to hit him and she had half a mind to do so, before suddenly he was leaning forward and his lips were on hers. It was the broom cupboard all over again. It was the library all over again. But it was different this time. There was no sense of urgency and no anger or frustration or alcohol. No bruising of the lips and no death grips. His lips moved slowly against hers and his tongue parted her mouth open and she felt herself dissolving before she really realized what was happening.

His hand left her cheek and the cold instantly chilled her blush, though her heart continued to pound loudly in her ears. She was sure he could hear it. She was sure the whole castle could hear it. And then his hand came back, resting on her knee.

Her breath hitched as his slender fingers moved along her inner thigh, slowly upwards, despite her knees being pressed together. She pulled her lips back a little but Draco followed after her and she had to place her hands on her chest to finally still him a few centimeters away. His hand stopped on her upper thigh as well, his fingers hidden under the folds of her skirt, and he kept his eyes closed. She knew this because she opened her eyes to look at him and he seemed to have frozen in time before her.

"What?" he whispered and his voice was hoarse and lowered. She thought that if he opened his eyes, they would be hooded and dark.

Her breath was coming faster than she'd like it to and her knees were pressing so hard together she was sure there'd be marks. It suddenly didn't feel very chilly outside at all.

"I don't… I'm not sure if…" she struggled with her words, her mind buzzing. After a moment of her failing to come up with anything to say, Draco leaned in again, brushing his lips against hers. Again she gave his chest a little push and again he stilled, though his thumb began to draw little circles on her thigh, causing her to shiver. "I'm not sure if this is… such a good idea," she finally said.

"Why?" His question was so small. So simple. And yet it wasn't. As soon as he said it he seemed have realized it too, because his eyes opened to look at her. She could see it clearly. The hooded lids and the dark desire. It was indeed dark, because it wasn't right. Not for either of them. They shouldn't be in this situation at all.

His thumb kept drawing circles and she kept shivering, her hands curled into fists, clutching bits of his sweater between her fingers.

For a moment they merely breathed, looking at each other, Draco's fingers splayed across her inner thigh, and then slowly he pulled his hand back. Hermione felt it before she comprehended what it was she was feeling. She felt disappointed.

"You're right," he muttered finally, bringing his hand through his windswept hair.

Hermione wasn't so sure that she was. She watched his profile as he turned his gaze up towards the sun, squinting as though to check the weather. They stayed sitting next to each other, Draco's knee leaning against Hermione's and Hermione trying to understand the raging feelings that were going on inside her. On one hand, she wanted to go back to hating him, and be angry with him for attacking Harry. On the other hand, she really wanted to know what it would be like, to be with Draco. It was such a foreign concept to her that the very idea of it sent a wave of excitement down her spine.

She wanted to know what it would be like to have his slender hands snake off her shirt, or move up her thigh again, and do all the things to her that only one other boy had ever done. Her cheeks blushed furiously and she cleared her throat loudly.

Just then, the doors to the pitch opened and a group of blue and black clad Quidditch players came onto the field. Draco instantly moved in one fluid motion to the other side of the bench and Hermione watched his cheeks flush further as he tried to find something interesting to look at. A small smile came to her lips that she tried to hide by pressing her mouth into a tight line. She stared down at her closed book, willing her heart to calm down now that he was further away.

By the time the Ravenclaw team had started practice, Draco had stood up, swung his bag over his shoulder, and had disappeared down the steps. Hermione watched his back as he went.


	11. Bad Behavior

**Author's Note:**

 **Scandalous. We are getting right down to the nitty gritty of things now, so as a final warning for those of you who are just joining the fanfic, please be advised that this story will contain**

 **~Strong (Explicitly described) acts of a Sexual Nature**

 **~Sensitive Topics (Rape, Cheating, etc.)**

 **and ~Strong Language**

 **Here you go lovelies, I hope you enjoy!**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer: **

**All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Friday night detention came much too quickly for everyone involved. Except for perhaps Filch, who shuffled down the corridor at top speed to the Entrance Hall to meet the six students he would get to boss around for the rest of the night.

Not surprisingly, Ginny, Harry and Hermione were the first ones to arrive for their detention.

Ginny and Harry made sure to walk on either side of Hermione, and neither of them looked at each other or spoke to one another since their talk in the common room after Harry had come back from the Hospital Wing. Hermione felt awkward sandwiched between them, but she knew better than to try and force them to talk to each other. She was starting to wonder if they'd ever find peace.

This thought worried Hermione, but not as much as the prospect of spending a night in detention with Draco worried her. Since their incident at the Quidditch Pitch, Hermione had done a marvelous job of avoiding Draco, and yet now the time has come where they would once again be in each other's company. The only reason this worried Hermione was because she didn't know if she could trust herself to react properly around him.

Filch wheezed by the front doors, Mrs. Norris sitting comfortably at his feet and watching them with her lamp-like eyes. It was impossible to tell what sort of work Filch was going to have them do, as he stood completely empty handed.

Finally, Draco, Pansy and Blaise emerged from the dungeons just as the clock chimed five. Pansy tried her hardest to avoid glancing towards Ginny or Harry as they approached, and an awkward hush fell over the group as Filch waited for the last of the chimes of the bells to die away. When they did, he gave a hearty sniff and sat up as straight as his hunched back would allow him, glaring at them all in turn.

"Now, Professor McGonagall won' let me give you the real punishments, so instead, you'll be splittin' into pairs and cleanin' multiple sections of the castle."

The students remained quiet, watching Filch more intently than perhaps any students have ever watched him before, considering he was the only person they could all comfortably look at without blushing or becoming furious. Filch cleared his throat, noticing for the first time that he actually had their rapt attention, before he quickly rushed on.

"Righ' so I think we'll pair Weasley with Potter and Granger with-"

"No." Ginny said suddenly.

Filch looked taken aback by Ginny's refusal and everyone turned to look at her in surprise. Filch gaped for a minute, as though he hadn't expected anyone to interrupt him, and Ginny took the opportunity of his silence to step forward.

"I'll work with Zabini."

Blaise glanced up from the ground he had been staring at so intently and raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's the only one I don't want to murder right now," Ginny grumbled under her breath, crossing her arms and looking Filch directly in the eyes, as though daring him to protest. Filch looked back at her carefully, weighing his level of authority over whether she'd actually obey him or not, before he curtly nodded his head, his jowls shaking and his jaw clenched together.

"Very well. You two will be cleanin' the brooms on the Quidditch Pitch." With that being said, Filch pulled out a lantern from the pockets of his shabby robes and handed it to Ginny. "And if I come out there and see one speck of dust on any of those brooms, you'll do them all over again," Filch warned, eyeing them with what was probably supposed to be an intimidating look.

Ginny and Blaise nodded silently before they swept past the older man and disappeared out onto the grounds, heading for the Quidditch Pitch. Filch watched them go for a long while, as though waiting for them to make a run for the forest or something equally as stupid, before Mrs. Norris' meow brought him back to the room. He turned to look at Draco, Harry, Hermione and Pansy, eyeing them with squinting eyes before he huffed.

"Well now, you two are friends," he said, gazing at Hermione and Harry, "and you two are friends," his eyes snapped over to Pansy and Draco. He seemed to be thinking hard before he sniffed loudly, his jowls quaking, and everyone looked tense because they knew was what no doubt coming. "Well then, you'll just have to switch won't you?" He waved his hands in a dramatic manner and Pansy and Hermione awkwardly moved around each other to stand next to the people they'd rather not spend the night with. Filch looked absolutely ecstatic to see the pained looks on their faces.

"Good now, Malfoy, Granger, you'll take the trophy room behind the Great Hall first, and Potter, Parkinson, you'll clean Professor Slughorn's room in the dungeons. I'll come get you in two hours to have you clean somethin' else," Filch nodded his head triumphantly, though as he ambled away, they could still hear him muttering about how he'd rather be allowed to hang students on hooks by their fingers and toes.

An awkward silence passed between the four of them as they all stared at each other. Harry was the first to move, heading towards the dungeon entrance without looking back. Pansy flashed Draco a look before walking after him, leaving Draco and Hermione alone.

* * *

Pansy didn't know what she was supposed to say to him. She reached into the bucket again and squeezed out the sludge from her sponge before pulling it out, giving it a hearty shake. She thoroughly detested cleaning the muggle way, but it seemed as though especially for detention the professors put charms on everything to prevent them from doing it the wizarding way. _The easier way_ Pansy thought bitterly as she slapped the sponge down onto a particularly grease stained desk and began to scrub away.

Harry and Pansy hadn't passed one word between each other all night and Pansy was beginning to grow increasingly anxious.

Everywhere he moved Pansy could sense him. They had discarded their robes and he was now working on a tough spot on the floor, the sleeves of his white button-down rolled up to his elbow. He kept his back to her the whole time and Pansy tried not to feel put out. They worked on in silence.

After a half an hour of scrubbing, Harry finally stood to his feet and wandered over to the bucket beside Pansy. He dunked his sponge inside, swirling it around, and Pansy thought that if she was given any opportunity to talk to him, it would be now, before he walked back over to the other side of the room to avoid her.

"How… How are you and Ginny?" she asked hesitantly, waiting to see his reaction.

Harry stilled instantly, his muscles tightening up when he heard her voice, before he began to squeeze out the sponge.

"How's Marcus?" He bit back, going back over to his spot on the floor.

Pansy felt herself bristle at the mention of Marcus who, unfortunately, she had not been able to break up with yet because she hadn't seen him since Draco had come barging in on them in the boy's dormitory. She felt her cheeks get hot, but her old defiant attitude began to seep back into her bones as she turned on him, placing her hands on her hips.

"You know, this isn't my fault," she said plainly. Harry's back seemed to stiffen under his shirt as he stilled before he glanced over his shoulder to look at her. "Yeah, you can be angry that your relationship with Ginny isn't working out, but you can't blame me for it."

Harry stood to his feet, leaving the sponge on the floor. He readjusted his glasses with soapy fingers, looking angry.

"Then who am I to blame?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Maybe yourself?" Pansy asked.

"I haven't done anything."

"Maybe that's the problem," Pansy retorted. Silence followed her answer as Harry stared at her from across the room. He no longer looked angry, however. He shifted on his feet, reaching a hand up to comb it through his hair and making it stand even more on end.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he finally asked haughtily.

"I mean if you don't feel anything, if there's no spark, and you're not really putting in an effort to make one, then maybe that's why your relationship fell to pieces. Maybe it has nothing to do with me at all. Maybe it was broken before the party, and you just didn't want to see it."

Harry's jaw set and he shifted again, suddenly looking uncomfortable and uncertain. He kneeled down to the ground, grabbing the sponge and continuing his work. Pansy watched him for a minute, allowing the silence to seep in only for a little bit, before she stormed over to stand in front of him. Harry looked up at her when she stopped right in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring down at him.

"Well?" she asked harshly, waiting for him to say something. Harry once again abandoned his sponge and stood to his feet.

"Well what?" he asked.

"Am I wrong?"

Harry looked her in the eyes for a long moment, those eyes that seemed to have x-ray vision that could see right inside of her. After a moment, he sighed and ran another hand through his hair in frustration.

"I don't know," he grumbled out, "Maybe." He turned his back on her, surveying the book case in front of him as though he had already cleaned it and was looking for any extra dust. In actuality, the whole bookcase was coated in a thin layer of dust. "We hadn't spoken much the few weeks before the party. Then afterwards it only got worse."

Pansy bit her lip, suddenly becoming nervous. She wished she hadn't pushed him. She turned away and quickly walked back to her bucket, picking up her sponge and slapping it onto the desk. Harry turned to look at her when she walked away, raising an eyebrow at her sudden hasty moves. She did her best not to look at him, nor did she say anything and Harry's eyes squinted suspiciously. He slowly moved across the room towards her, stopping behind her so close that his breath could be felt on the back of her neck. She tried her best not to shiver and to concentrate on working.

"Pansy," he said slowly, watching her work from over her shoulder. When she did not answer, or acknowledge his presence at all, he continued. "Pansy, what do you know that I don't?"

Pansy refused to look at him, scrubbing the desk harder than she'd ever done before. She bent down a little to inspect her work, but Harry's hand came out and grabbed her arm, pulling it away from the desk and yanking her back against him. She stood completely still, feeling the thumping of his heart on her back and his breath hot on her ear. His grip was vice-like around her wrist and the sponge dangled wetly from her hand.

"Pansy," he said again, his tone warning. His patience seemed to wearing thin.

"What are you gonna do if I don't tell you?" Pansy asked, feeling like she had something to prove to him. She had been made such a fool of the past few weeks, she couldn't believe she had ever let herself stoop so low.

Harry's fingers tightened around her wrist, so hard that the sponge fell from her hand. He didn't seem in the mood to be playing any games.

"What do you know that I don't know?" he asked again, his breath seeping down her neck and into her very spine.

Pansy stayed quiet, staring at the wall in front of her with clenched teeth. She could not tell him. She wouldn't tell him. Oh Merlin, she was dying to tell him. Ever since she'd found out she'd been dying to tell him. But she had promised she wouldn't and she had sworn to keep that promise.

His other hand came up and touched her chin, forcing her head to turn towards him. When she refused to look at him, he pressed his lips firmly against her jaw. She gave an involuntary shutter and he breathed against her skin as he spoke.

"Tell me," he murmured.

"Make me," she said through her clenched teeth.

He seemed to freeze behind her, obviously contemplating what he should do. On one hand, it would be so easy to give into temptation and play with her until she squirmed enough to give him the information he wanted. She obviously knew something that she knew he would want to know, otherwise she wouldn't be teasing him like this. On the other hand, his girlfriend, Ginny, was just outside the castle somewhere, polishing broomstick handles in detention because he had gotten into a fight and she happened to be there to watch.

Harry let her go, taking a step away from her before walking back over to his abandoned sponge on the floor. Pansy felt a flood of emotions rush into her all at once. Disappointment, abandonment, need. Before she could stop herself, before she could think about what it was she was about to tell him, she turned around on her heels and looked at him walking away from her.

"Ginny is cheating on you."

Harry froze mid-step. It was like he'd been hit with a spell. He merely stood there, staring at the sponge on the ground. Those were the words Harry had been waiting to hear for he didn't know how long, and he'd never known until that moment that he had been waiting to hear them. He slowly turned to look back at her and Pansy looked flustered at the prospect of telling him this. He walked back over to her, stopping right in front of her and looking down into her face.

"How do you know?" he asked seriously. None of his body was touching her, but she seemed to be permanently attached to the spot.

"I know who she's been cheating on you with," Pansy said slowly, gauging his reaction. He looked incredibly calm, though his voice shook a little on every third word and his eyes were staring unblinking at her.

"When did you find this out?" Harry asked.

"A few days ago," Pansy whispered.

Harry took another step towards her, almost closing the gap between them. Her heart leapt into her throat. She had never seen Harry like this before. So take-charge and assertive. So angry. She couldn't help but kind of like it.

"Who is it?" Harry asked.

Pansy shook her head a little. She had already told him far too much. Wasn't it enough that she was cheating on him? Did he really want to know the specifics?

As soon as Pansy shook her head, Harry's hand flew up and grabbed a hold of her chin, forcing her backwards. Her lower back knocked into the desk she'd be cleaning and the bucket of water and soap splashed along the surface. He pushed her down a little, enough to make her back stretch uncomfortably, and she began to squirm a little underneath him.

"Who is it Pansy?" he asked again, his tone dangerously calm.

Pansy grabbed his shoulders, giving him a push. He pulled her back upright, but his hand remained firmly attached to her chin. She stared him down for a long time before he finally let her chin go and she straightened herself up. She looked him right in his eyes.

"Blaise," she whispered.

"When?"

"Third week of school."

"How?"

"In the broom cupboard by the Entrance Hall."

Harry seemed to stiffen immediately. She was talking about the broom cupboard that Ginny had pulled him into to tell him that she loved him.

"Once?"

"Twice."

"When?"

"The inter-house unity party."

"How?"

Pansy took a breath, looking at him carefully. His demeanor didn't seem to change, but his eyes had darkened considerably since the start of their conversation.

"How?" he asked again, when she failed to answer him.

"Before it started."

A silence rang out between them, an awful silence that Pansy wished she could take away. They stared each other down. Harry seemed to be looking for any signs of a lie in her eyes, and Pansy almost wished she had a lie to tell, but she did not. After Draco and Harry were sent to the hospital wing, and Blaise had gotten physical with Ginny in the hallway, Pansy had asked why the red-head had gotten teary eyed. Blaise told her then in the common room, before Draco had gotten back from the hospital wing.

Harry shifted on his feet before he ran a hand through his hair.

"Did they have sex?"

Pansy hesitated. "Yes."

"Oh," he said.

That single word rang so loudly in Pansy's ears.

* * *

It wasn't until they had begun working on cleaning the trophies that Hermione finally whipped around to look at him. He had been staring at her all the way through the Great Hall and towards the trophy room, and she had tried her best to ignore him but she didn't have the patience tonight. They caught eyes and Hermione glared at him.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply, gripping the wax pad in her hand and lifting down one of the trophies from the shelf in front of her.

She felt him before she heard him, standing by her side and staring down at her. His fingers came up and brushed her hair aside from one of her shoulders and she'd never felt more exposed when she was still fully clothed. She quickly shook him off.

"Malfoy go away," she grumbled, as she began to wax the trophy in her hand for some Quidditch award or another.

"I don't know if I can Granger," Draco said truthfully, staying where he was just a few inches away from her. Hermione felt her cheeks light up and she quickly shook her head, trying to focus on the trophy in her hands.

"You're being ridiculous," she said, placing the trophy down a little rougher than she meant to. Draco was back before her sentence had even finished, moving her hair aside again and pressing his nose into the place behind her ear. She stilled instantly for a second before quickly jumping aside and out of his reach. His eyes followed her and Hermione had the familiar feeling of being stalked by a predator.

"Malfoy," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "I don't know what game you're playing at, but it's stupid, so let it go."

Draco shifted on his feet, feeling frustrated and amused at the same time, though he couldn't quite figure out how that was yet. He was frustrated because ever since their incident on the Quidditch Pitch, Draco had found himself unable to stop thinking about her. It was driving him mad, more so than the event in the broom cupboard had done. He couldn't even sleep without her lips invading his dreams, kissing his lips, his neck, his chest and down, down, down, until…

He blinked hard and brought himself back to the present. Hermione had gone back to waxing the trophies, though her neck and cheeks seemed to be tinged a bright pink.

"What?" he asked.

Her cheeks flared up even more at being addressed as she peaked a glance at him before quickly looking away. "Nothing," she said under her breath. Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"What Granger?"

Hermione sighed heavily and set the trophy down, turning towards him and crossing her arms over her chest. She pursed her lips together and really focused on him, as though trying desperately to keep her eyes off of anything else in the room.

"You have a…" Hermione jerked her chin towards his pants, her cheeks looking more and more enflamed by the second.

Draco glanced down and noticed it pressing against his slacks, wondering whether to be more amused or more frustrated. He looked up at her and noticed how uncomfortable she looked, and how uncertain, and he started towards her. She moved to back away quickly and ran straight into a cabinet full of trophies.

"Malfoy, I'm warning you-"

"What Granger?" he said, stopping in front of her, leaving just enough space between them for her to feel the heat of him seeping into her. "I got it thinking about you."

It wasn't possible for Hermione Granger's face to be any redder. Draco lifted a hand and rested it on the cabinet by her head. When she didn't move, he raised the other one, trapping her between his hands. She looked at him, a mix between a deer caught in headlights and a lion prepared to strike. It amused him greatly to see her squirming like this.

"I've been having dreams about you Granger. They're very annoying," he whispered, looking down at her.

Hermione felt her heart stuttering in her chest. What was she going to do? There was no place to run, nowhere to go, and more importantly, no chilly October morning breeze to cool her off. She fidgeted between his hands. She couldn't help but admit that he had been on her mind too. That she had been thinking about what it would be like. That she had no idea why she was so willing to find out.

His face leaned close to hers and her breath hitched before his lips touched hers once more. The familiar fire that had come to her on the Quidditch Pitch came roaring back to life, but much worse, and when his tongue prodded her mouth for entrance she gave it to him without a second thought. His hand snaked around her waist, pulling her off the cabinet and into him, and Hermione tried hard to avoid the stiffness of him underneath his slacks, but it was nearly impossible.

His other hand came up, winding into her hair and curling around long strands, as though to prevent her from escaping. Her heart was racing too fast for her to concentrate. She had no idea what she was doing. At any moment, Filch could come huffing and puffing into the room to check on their progress, and they would be in far worse trouble than they already were.

She tried to push him away and as soon as her hands touched his chest to force him back his shoulders slumped forward and he pressed into her more.

"No, no, no," he muttered against her lips, and he sounded so pleading that Hermione's hands slackened almost instantly. Her back was against the cabinet again before she had time to think and the hand that had been snaking in her hair was gone.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling the feathery-soft wisps of his platinum hair in her fingers and before she could think about what was happening, his hand had found her inner thigh once more and was moving its way up her skirt.

His lips left her mouth and he forced her chin aside with his nose before placing his lips hungrily on her throat. Her mind blanked. She had never been in such a state of blissful unawareness. His lips were soft and smooth and his hand caressed her thigh in a way that almost made her collapse if she wasn't hanging onto his neck. What was she doing? What he was doing? What were any of them doing?

It came to a rather grinding halt with his fingers touched the edge of her panties.

"No, wait," she said instantly, grabbing the back of his neck with her hands and pulling his face away from her. The hand on her thigh stilled at the crease of her underwear and he looked at her with masked impatience.

"What?" he asked, his breath coming in raspy gasps. His hair was mussed and sticking on end from her fingers running through it and his eyes were hooded like she had never seen them before. She could also feel him, stiff against her knee, and her cheeks flushed even more.

"I don't think-"

A groan escaped his lips and his forehead came to rest on the cabinet over her shoulder.

"Let me guess," he said, his voice muffled by her hair. "You don't think this is a good idea."

Hermione instantly felt herself bristle at his words. "Aren't you repulsed by me?"

A moment went by where neither of them moved before Draco pulled himself away from the cabinet to look at her. His hand had fallen from between her thighs and he stared at her, his eyebrows pulled together a little.

"What?" he asked quietly, the last traces of husk slowly leaving his voice.

Hermione shifted, her hands still clamped over the back of his neck. "I'm, I'm a muggleborn. Don't I thoroughly repulse you?"

Draco stared at her as though he'd never met her before and Hermione could not understand his confusion. He had been calling her foul names since they were twelve, always insulting her blood heritage and acting as though she were of inferior birth. Now, suddenly, he seemed to be perplexed by her statement. But no, it was not her statement that had caught Draco off guard. It was the fact that he had _not_ thought of her statement until just now

Ever since his night spent with Hermione in that broom cupboard, who she was had simply slipped from his mind in a way that he had never expected it to. It was as if her blood didn't matter. As if purebloods and muggleborns could just co-exist and be sexually attracted to each other. Draco shifted, looking positively befuddled.

"No," he said slowly, looking at her as though she had just explained to him the possibility of a life after death. "I… I don't."

Hermione couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but judging by the serious expression marred on his face, and the way his eyes had cleared instantly as soon as he spoke, she could tell that he most certainly was not. Had the fact that she was a muggleborn slipped his mind? Did he truly not remember, in the midst of his lust, who it was that he was lusting after? Hermione's heart hammered hard in her chest. He didn't move from her grip, and she didn't move from his arm wrapped tight around her waist, still hugging her to him.

"You… don't?" Hermione repeated slowly, her eyebrows pulling together to match his own look.

His eyes darted over her face, taking in everything, and he shook his head. "No."

It was like a magnet had been switched back on. Draco's lips were on hers in a second and Hermione felt her heart leap into her throat. Maybe even higher. Maybe it escaped with the little gasp she made before he kissed her.

"Granger," he murmured tight against her lips. Hermione barely had half a mind to concentrate on what he was saying. "I'm going to have you for myself Granger," it didn't sound like a threat. More like a promise. Hermione felt the pounding of her own heart in her ears and she didn't know what to think. She didn't respond at all, unable to tell him to stop.

* * *

Pansy waited anxiously in the Slytherin common room, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. She only had to wait a few minutes before the portrait hole opened and Blaise entered the room. Pansy stood quick to her feet, her mouth opened to tell him, when the portrait hole opened again and Draco joined them.

Pansy's mouth snapped shut and Blaise eyed her carefully. She tried to tell him with her eyes what she had done. That she had told his secret. That she hadn't meant to but she had, because she wanted Harry to be rid of Ginny already and she wanted him to be rid of her now. Blaise looked at her for a long moment before the familiar expressionless mask slid over his face. Pansy felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was guilt. She couldn't. But she knew from the way that he walked past without saying goodnight that he had gotten her message.

Pansy turned her eyes on Draco and instantly knew that he had pissed their whole interaction. His hair was windswept, impressive considering he had never been outside. His lips looked chapped and his button-down was button crooked. His eyes also held a glazed look and Pansy wondered if he was even seeing her right now.

When his eyes did land on her, he tried his best to look normal and put together. A tough feat for a guy whose button-down wasn't tucked and the buttons were sloppy.

"Have a good detention?" Pansy asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Draco stared at her for a long time before he gave a little shrug. He started for the boy's dormitory but Pansy stopped him.

"Did you have sex with her?"

Draco seemed to wince at this and he turned on his heels to give her a look that told her to keep her voice down. He sighed, running his fingers through his messed up hair.

"No, I didn't." He turned to leave again.

"Do you want to?"

Draco waited for a long moment, refusing to look over his shoulder at her. Finally, he took a breath and started towards the boy's dormitory, disappearing down the steps before she could ask him anymore questions.

* * *

The yelling went on until the early hours of the morning. Hermione tried not to listen, but it was almost impossible not to. She was sure the whole of Gryffindor tower had stayed up all night listening to Harry and Ginny go at it.

Hermione wanted to say that she was shocked when she heard what Ginny had done, but she almost couldn't feel it inside of her to be shocked. Ginny and Harry's relationship had always seemed tricky, and awkward and distant, and Ginny was a likeable girl who had a lot of guy friends. Even if those guy friends weren't from Gryffindor house.

By the time it became three in the morning, Hermione finally heard the yelling stop, and the sound of a door slamming shut, which she assumed to be the boy's dormitory. When Ginny came up the stairs, Hermione pretended to be asleep, as she was sure the rest of the girls in the dorm tried to be. Hermione waited to hear if Ginny would cry, but she did not hear as much as a sniffle while Ginny got changed and went to bed.

By the time her soft snores started filling the room, Hermione's mind was on other things.

She touched her inner thigh below her sheets, remembering how it had felt to have his slender fingers on her. She knew it was wrong. Merlin she knew it. And perhaps that's why it excited her so. He took total control of her, did whatever he wanted to her, and Hermione would be a fool to lie and say she didn't enjoy every second of it.

Her fingers trailed up her soft skin, stopping just at the band of her underwear. She gave a shaky breath, glancing towards the other beds in the room. Everyone seemed passed out and completely unaware that she was still. She felt her fingers dip into the band of her underwear and her cheeks instantly heated up of their own embarrassment.

She could imagine the feel of his soft hair, the lurch in her stomach she got when his eyes stared right at her, the feel of his lips on her neck and his tongue in her mouth.

" _I'm going to have you for myself Granger"_

She was as quiet as she could be, wondering when in the world Draco Malfoy had grabbed such a hold on her.


	12. Firewhiskey Won't Save You Now

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello hello lovelies. My break has just begun and I hope yours did too. I work Monday-Fridays now but that won't stop me from writing more chapters! Things are about to get heated, and I don't just mean sexually. I hope you all are ready for some serious drama in the next few chapters!**

 **Thank you for sticking with the story. I'm so happy with all the attention it's receiving and I'm having so much fun writing it.**

 **Enjoy! xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Pansy's leg jiggled anxiously as she waited for Blaise to come up from the boy's dormitory the next morning. She chewed on her manicured nail, her heart racing in her chest. She knew she shouldn't have told Harry about Ginny and Blaise, but she had just wanted him so badly. She wanted him to be hers and for their whole charade to be over. She couldn't do that if Harry kept walking around feeling guilty about them and thinking that Ginny was so innocent.

She sat there for nearly twenty minutes before Blaise ascended the stairs to the common room.

Pansy jumped to her feet, pulling her bag off the floor and straightening out her skirt nervously.

"Blaise," she said, starting to approach him.

His turned to look at her and his cold eyes and expressionless face stilled her in her tracks. He didn't even falter as he eyed her up and down, sneered and kept on his way towards the portrait hole before disappearing through it.

Pansy stared at the portrait hole as it closed, feeling her shoulders slump and a ball beginning to knot itself into her throat. She gripped the strap of her bag tighter and pulled it onto her shoulder just as Draco's blonde head came up from the boy's dormitory.

"Hey Pansy," Draco said as he walked over to her. Pansy tried to act normal and throw him a smile, but he seemed far too distracted to notice her odd behavior.

"What do you have planned for today?" Draco asked as the two of them started for the portrait hole that Blaise had just disappeared through.

"Hm? I don't know, why?" Pansy asked, trying to figure out how she was going to force Blaise to talk to her.

"I was just wondering," Draco continued, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh. He had barely gotten any sleep at all last night. All he could think about was Hermione. It was like she had consumed him over night. He pictured her pressed against him, running her fingers through his hair, kissing him. It was driving him mad. He knew he had to see her.

"I think I'll be in the library today," Draco said offhandedly as they approached the Great Hall. "I might just go now. I'm not that hungry."

Pansy's eyes caught sight of Blaise sitting at the Slytherin table and she barely nodded. "Yeah alright Draco, I'll see you later," she mumbled before hurrying over to him.

Draco stared after her for a moment, debating on whether he should track her down and ask her what was wrong, before his eyes scanned over the Gryffindor table. He could see Harry, sitting for the first time in a long time next to Ron, and Ginny sitting on the other end of the table, talking to her friends and looking miserably at Harry every now and then. But Hermione seemed to be missing.

"Where are you Granger?" Draco grumbled to himself before turning around and heading out on a search through the castle.

* * *

"Harry you've got to at least talk to her, she's my sister," Ron said, shoveling a large pile of eggs into his mouth.

Harry ignored him, casting a glance towards Ginny, who turned her gaze away as soon as she saw him looking at her. He couldn't believe how angry he felt. He supposed he wasn't so angry that Ginny had cheated on him. He supposed he wasn't even angry that Ginny had cheated on him with a Slytherin. He just felt so stupid for beating himself up about being with Pansy, when it was Ginny who had gone off with someone else first.

He looked up just as Pansy came into the Great Hall, sweeping over to sit beside Blaise, who looked intent on ignoring her.

He watched her black hair glisten in the morning sun and her lips shine from her newly applied lip gloss. He shifted in his seat, wondering if he should go over and talk to her. But that was absurd. He couldn't just very well get up and walk up to her in front of everyone. But why couldn't he? He really wanted to. What was the problem? It wasn't like he was dating Ginny anymore.

They didn't need to be kept a secret.

"Oi, did you hear me?"

Harry blinked back to reality just as Pansy glanced over at him. They caught eyes for a brief second and she smiled a little at him. He tried to smile back before he quickly turned to look at Ron, who was now drinking down a whole goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Sorry?"

"Where's Hermione?" Ron repeated, once his goblet was empty.

Harry shrugged, trying to go back to his food. "I don't know. She didn't come down this morning with…"

"You can at least say her name you know,"

"No, Ron, I don't think I can," Harry suddenly said angrily, putting his fork down. His jaw clenched and he shook his head roughly.

Ron looked incredulously at him. "She's my sist-"

"I know who she is Ron. That doesn't excuse what she did." Harry grabbed his bag and got to his feet. "I need some air," he grumbled before heading for the Great Hall doors. He chanced a glance back towards Pansy, who was watching him leave.

He couldn't be sure, but he thought she stood up as soon as he walked out the doors. He crossed the Entrance Hall and went outside. The chilly October air swept over him and he inhaled deeply. Halloween was next weekend, and he was looking forward to the holidays more so than ever. He needed a break from school. From Ginny. From everything.

"Hey,"

Harry turned and caught sight of Pansy descending the stairs towards him. Her dark hair whipped around her chin and she shivered in her cloak as she came to a stop beside him.

"Bit chilly out, don't you think?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I suppose," Harry said, running his fingers through his hair. "I just needed to get out of there. I don't want to see anyone I know today."

Pansy was quiet for a long time and Harry turned his eyes out towards the Black Lake. The giant squid's long tentacle broke the surface, sliding along before plunging back into the darkness.

"I know some place we can go where you won't run into anyone you know," Pansy said suddenly, her cheeks and nose tinged pink with the cold. Harry hesitated before he turned to look at her. Her eyes shone with mischief and a little thrill ran through him.

"Where?"

* * *

Hermione almost yelled in shock when she saw him leaning in the divot of the window at the very back of the library. She had only passed a few frantic looking fifth years on the way down, and she hadn't expected to see him at all. At least not until Monday and especially not in the library.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing skulking around in the back of the library?" Hermione asked angrily. She was hoping that if she avoided the rest of the castle then she would have been able to avoid him as well.

He glanced up at her with his icy eyes through the fringe of his blond hair. His bag and cloak lay discarded on a nearby table and he fiddled with his wand, his back pressed against the window.

"Waiting for you," he said, eyeing her.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, her cheeks reddening instantly. She thought about what she had done last night in the dormitory, surrounded by her house mates, and who she had been thinking of while she had done it. She shook her head furiously and slammed her books and bag down on the table next to his things before she turned on him, placing her hands on her hips.

"And how did you know I would come here?" She asked, "Stalking me are you?"

"What if I was?" Draco said seriously, one of his eyebrows raising mischievously.

"Well, I don't want to see you," she said quickly with finality.

"Is that so?" he asked, not believing her at all.

"Believe it or not, yes, it is _so_. So you'd better leave."

Draco stayed where he was, his eyes looking her up and down before they settled on her face once more. He pushed himself away from the window and just as he did, Hermione stepped back hurriedly. Draco stopped and Hermione's cheeks flared again.

"Steady Granger," he said lowly, walking over to the table. He placed his wand in his bag and picked up his cloak as slow as humanly possible. Hermione fidgeted out of his peripheral vision, crossing her arms over her chest and gazing around the room, trying to find something interesting to look at.

Draco turned to look at her, folding his cloak over his arm before he took a step towards her and stopped right in front of her. Sighing heavily with annoyance, she turned her gaze to look up at him.

They stayed like that, both of them eyeing each other and waiting for the other to move or say something first. Hermione's cheeks were flared and pink and Draco's jaw was set tight.

Finally, after a long moment, Draco's hand came up and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. It was all Hermione could do not to press herself into his touch. His eyes were hooded and gazing down at her and she felt her heart beginning to pound even faster. Any moment now a student could round the corner and see them, or Madame Pince could come barring down on them to see what all the noise had been about and catch them standing so close together.

It was riskier than their detention. Hermione bit her lip thinking about the last time they had been so close to each other.

"What if I don't want to leave?" he asked, his hand lingering on the side of her face, a strand of hair caught between his fingers.

Hermione shifted under the weight of his arm on her shoulder. "I don't think-"

"That would be a good idea?" Draco finished for her, raising an inquiring eyebrow down at her. His eyes glanced down at her lips and back up again and Hermione's heart plummeted down to her feet. "We both know that the best ideas are always… the bad ones."

Hermione instantly stepped back, moving out from under Draco's arm, which fell robotically to his side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione mumbled, pressing her arms tighter over her chest.

Draco eyed her for a moment before he slowly reached a hand up and pulled at the knot of his tie. Hermione's eyes glanced down at his fingers, her eyebrows pulling together curiously. He tugged at the knot until it loosened before he gave it a little pull and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.

Hermione stiffened, her eyes flashing back up to his face. She thought she could see the ghost of a smirk on his pale lips.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, her brain seeming fuzzier than when she had first entered the library.

"It's a bit hot in here," he stated back smoothly. "Don't you agree?"

Hermione bit her lip, trying hard not to notice the small bit of his collarbone poking out from his shirt and the sloppy way his tie hung low from his neck.

"I suppose," was all she could think to say.

Draco set his cloak down and stepped towards her. He reached a hand up and pulled at the clasp on her cloak. It fell away from her shoulders quicker than she could register what was happening and Hermione sucked in a breath as Draco placed it on the table next to his.

"Malfoy, the library isn't exactly empty," Hermione stuttered, her eyes automatically moving down to his pale lips, which smirked back at her in response.

His hand reached up and his fingers wove into her mass of hair, tugging her head towards him and forcing her to close the distance between them. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against hers and the warmth of his body radiating through his clothes. His other hand came up and his fingers curled around her elbow, holding her against him.

"I don't think anyone will come back here if we're quiet," he said, his eyes hooded again and staring down at her.

Hermione barely had time to come up with a retort before his lips touched hers and everything seemed to leave her mind in an unexpected head rush. His fingers tightened on her elbow and in her hair and he pulled her harder against him. His mouth moved quickly and Hermione couldn't help but wrap her other arm around his back to steady herself.

She could feel the curve of his back through his shirt and her cheeks lit up instantly at the thought of the dormitory last night.

His mouth left hers and his forehead leaned down against hers. When she opened her eyes, she saw that his were firmly closed and his jaw was clenched. It was like he was having an internal battle with himself and Hermione shifted in his tight grip, which had not loosened despite him no longer kissing her.

"What is it?" Hermione asked quietly. Draco's eyes flashed open and he looked down at her for a long moment in silence.

"I'm wondering whether I should take you or not," he said honestly, his eyes looking dark and challenging.

Hermione felt her breath hitch a little. "Don't I get a say in that decision?"

"No," he said simply.

They stared each other down before suddenly Draco lifted his head and loosened his grip on her arm. Hermione's eyebrows pulled together in confusion before suddenly she heard it too. Footsteps.

Hermione tried to step away from him but his grip tightened again and held her fast against him.

"Malfoy," Hermione said in a slightly panicked tone, her head beginning to clear rapidly. "I don't want to be seen so close to you-"

Draco's hands disappeared and the weight and warmth of his body was gone. Hermione blinked, noticing him picking up his cloak and throwing it over his shoulders. A group of fifth year students who seemed frantic to study for the O.W.L.'s rounded the corner, engrossed in a pile of textbooks. Draco kept his back to her, adjusting his clasp, until they passed and headed for the potions section of the library.

It wasn't until their footsteps were gone that Draco picked up his bag and rounded on her. His eyes shone with annoyance and frustration.

"If anything, Granger, it's me that doesn't want to be seen so close to you," he said, venom dripping from his voice. Hermione blinked at him, momentarily stunned by his cold attitude.

He started to walk past her and Hermione closed her eyes, feeling a guilty sort of feeling settle in her chest, though she couldn't pinpoint why. It was only Malfoy. Suddenly his breath was in her ear and Hermione jumped, glancing over her shoulder at him. He was so close to her that every time he inhaled his chest brushed against her back.

He moved her hair off her shoulder and pressed his lips against the curve of her neck. She felt a shiver run through her involuntarily.

"You're staying here for break?" he mumbled against her skin. His fingers slid into the space between her skirt and her button-down and she felt his fingertips grazing her exposed skin.

"Yes," she said quietly, trying not to allow herself to crumble.

"I'll take you then," he said it like a promise, and sealed it with a kiss on her jaw before his touch disappeared.

By the time Hermione opened her eyes and glanced around behind her, he was gone.

* * *

"Are you sure nobody is going to be here Pansy?" Harry asked nervously as he moved through the portrait hole and into the Slytherin common room.

Pansy smirked back at him over her shoulder. "Scared Harry?" She teased before walking past the leather couches and the unlit fireplace.

"Scared? Of some Slytherins?" Harry tried to sound confident, but he found himself looking over his shoulder anyway. He heard Pansy laugh a little ahead of him and he couldn't help but follow the sound of it towards the staircase to the girl's dormitory. His heart hammered in his chest excitedly. He felt like he was breaking every rule in the world just by being there and it sent adrenaline coursing through him.

"The Slytherins prefer to spend their Saturdays out and about the castle," Pansy informed him, as though she were simply giving him a tour of a museum. She climbed the staircase to the girl's dormitory, feeling a strange fluttering in her stomach that she couldn't quite explain. She had brought plenty of guys back to her room before, even some Ravenclaws, but none of them had ever been Harry Potter.

She opened the girl's dormitory and glanced inside, just to make sure, but her suspicions were proved correct when she noticed that it was empty. She pushed it open and tossed her bag onto her bed before she turned to Harry and smirked.

"Well, here you go. Deep into the lair of the enemy," she teased, sitting down on her bed and watching him, biting her lip.

Harry glanced around the room, noting the lack of windows and stone walls and green curtains around the beds, which differed completely from Gryffindor's dormitories in the towers. His eyes instantly landed on the moving photograph on the night stand beside Pansy's bed. He walked over to it, setting his bag down in a chair before picking it up.

"Was this the Yule Ball?" Harry asked, noting Pansy's silvery dress and Draco's high collared dress robes.

"Yes, it was," Pansy said, smiling a little. She absolutely adored that picture.

"That night was rubbish," Harry said, putting it down and turning to look at her.

"Really? It was pretty great for me," Pansy said, frowning. The Yule Ball was one of her favorite nights at Hogwarts. She couldn't imagine anyone having a bad time when there was champagne to drink and fancy dresses to wear and dancing to be done. Harry shrugged a shoulder before he sat down next to her.

"I've never danced before, so dancing in front of everyone was probably the worst experience of my life," he tried to laugh a little, and to his relief Pansy laughed as well.

"Well, you didn't screw up, because Draco couldn't find anything to mock, so I guess you had nothing to worry about."

Silence engulfed them for a moment and they both stared off at anything besides each other. Finally, Pansy took a breath and smoothed out her skirt before she cleared her throat and turned her eyes to look at him.

"What happened with you and… Ginny?"

Harry shifted next to her, combing his hand through his hair, though he refused to look at her, instead staring at the interesting spot on the floor between his shoes.

"We broke up," he said, nodding a little as though to confirm it. It was the first time he had said it out loud, and it sounded differently than it had in his head. It sounded final when he said it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Pansy said, and she tried to mean it, but she just couldn't.

Harry flapped a dismissive hand, giving his head a shake. "It's alright, it actually wasn't your fault."

"I know," Pansy said, trying to smirk a little. Harry looked at her and caught her eyes and Pansy's smirk faltered.

They stared at each other for a while, neither of them speaking.

"Harry…?" Pansy whispered, though she didn't know what the end of her question was going to be before Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She sank into his kiss, forgetting everything else. She forgot that he had only just broken up with Ginny, and she forgot that Blaise was mad at her or that she hadn't seen Draco all day and that he had been acting odd. She forgot that they were in the Slytherin girl's dormitory and any minute now someone might walk in and see them. She forgot it all.

Harry moved into her and she fell back against her pillows, holding tight to the front of his shirt and pulling him with her. He leaned over top of her, kissing her cheek and her neck and settling on her collarbone. Her fingers wove into his messy hair and she felt his glasses touch her neck.

She reached her hands up and took them off, placing them on the night stand next to her. Harry stared down blurrily at her before his lips came down on hers again.

Her hands tugged at his cloak and worked the knot in his tie. His cheeks were flushed as he helped her pull it over his head before his hand disappeared under her shirt, grazing over the smooth skin of her stomach. She felt goosebumps rise all over her at his touch.

They didn't speak to each other when Pansy pulled his shirt over his head and pushed him to sit up, kissing his collarbone and moving down to his stomach. Harry's head fell back and he closed his eyes, breathing heavier and winding his fingers through Pansy's hair before reaching down and pulling her shirt off and forcing her back onto her back.

His eyes looked her over. Her pale skin contrasted against the dark green satin sheets and her black bra, which held her small breasts tightly in place. Her stomach was smooth and small and tight and her eyes stared up at him, her lips redder than before and her lip gloss smudged. Harry couldn't remember ever seeing Pansy looking so rumpled, and he thought that she really was beautiful.

His lips came down and touched the crescent tops of her breasts with a kiss each before kissing the skin between her belly button and the band of her skirt. Pansy shuddered under his lips, closing her eyes and breathing out contently. His hands were gentle as they moved over her, unclasping (with some difficulty, which earned a giggle from Pansy) her bra and letting her breasts free before cupping them. His thumbs rolled over her nipples and she sighed before his lips found hers again.

She felt him hard through his pants, pressing into her thigh and she squirmed underneath him. They had been playing their game for so long that she almost had forgotten what the prize was going to be at the end.

He was slow and gentle at undressing her, kissing her wherever there was any uncovered skin to be seen. When she finally tugged at the bands of his underwear it suddenly dawned on them how very real this was. This was not a day dream had during Potions class or a dream had at night in bed or a fantasy thought about after one of their meet ups.

He really was in her bed and she really was naked and he really was leaning over her, staring down into her blurry face and hesitating.

Her hands came up and touched either side of his face, trapping him to look at her, and she leaned up, covering his mouth with hers before pulling back.

"Only if you…" Harry started, unable to finish his thought.

She stared up at him, shocked that he had even hesitated to ask, before her hands traveled down his chest and landed on his bare hips. She bit her lip and nodded up at him. She didn't need to tell him twice before he moved inside her, leaning his forehead against her shoulder. She sucked in a breath and her head fell back and he was out of her again, and then back in.

* * *

Draco stared into the green fire in the fireplace, a bottle of Firewhiskey dangling from his fingertips. He swirled the contents around slowly, his eyes glazed over and his mind far away.

It wasn't until Blaise sat down on the couch beside him that he blinked for the first time in what seemed like forever. He slowly lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long sip, refusing to turn his gaze to look at the dark skinned Slytherin beside him.

"Something on your mind?" Blaise's deep voice rumbled from beside him.

"Something on yours?" Draco fired back without looking at him.

They sat in silence for another moment while Draco took another long sip before he finally turned his bright eyes onto the other man. They stared each other down, but it was Blaise who eventually spoke first.

"I slept with Ginny," he said it very matter-of-factly, as though if he admitted it out loud it would make it untrue.

"Hm," was all Draco said as he finished off his bottle and set it down next to the other four by his feet before he leaned back into the couch. Blaise rolled his eyes when he continued to stay silent.

"This is when you tell me what terrible thing you've done-"

"And why would I do that?" Draco interrupted, turning a bored gaze onto him. Blaise stared him down before he turned his full body towards him and lowered his voice, even though the common room was practically empty.

"I've known you for a long time Draco and I know something is going on between you and Granger, so why don't you just tell me what happened. I'd rather hear it from you than from someone else."

Draco blinked slowly at him, as though mulling over what he said. "Nothing happened."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Not yet?"

Draco turned away and Blaise sighed before standing to his feet.

"Fine, don't tell me," Blaise said before stalking off to the boy's dormitory. Draco watched him go before he leaned forward and picked up an unopened bottle of Firewhiskey.

He popped it open and leaned back into the couch again before taking another sip.

A few moments later another figure came and sank into the cushions beside him. It wasn't until he felt someone lean their head against his shoulder that he knew it must be Pansy.

"Why are you drinking yourself to sleep tonight?" she whispered, her arms looping around his and her head burying deep into the crook of his neck. She sounded sleepy but happy and Draco didn't want to ask why that was. When he didn't answer and instead took a long sip from his drink, Pansy continued quietly, "It is because you're thinking about someone?"

The portrait hole opened and a few young students came piling into the common room, talking loudly about a game of exploding snap. Draco didn't say anything, staring into the dwindling fire, his eyelids beginning to grow heavy.

"Is it because you can't get her out of your head?" Pansy went on, when it was obvious Draco wasn't going to answer her. "Even when you thought it was just a game?"

Draco glanced down at the top of Pansy's head before a sneer came to his lips. He turned his gaze back to the fire when she shifted on him to get comfortable and he lifted the bottle to his lips, finishing it off.

"Firewhiskey won't save you now Draco."


	13. Hermione's Secret

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the delay! I hope you all like this chapter. Don't forget to follow and leave a comment with your thoughts, I love hearing from you!**

 **Drama is slowly brewing in the horizon. Are you ready for it?**

 **xxx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Harry had never imagined that there would be a day in his life where he wished for a Quidditch match to be cancelled. But seeing Ginny glaring at him from the other side of the locker room while he tried to give an encouraging speech to his team made him wish the cold winds of October were a lot harsher than they currently were. He knew that playing with her today was going to be difficult.

After finishing his unprepared speech on an awkward note, the Gryffindor team grabbed their brooms and headed out of the locker room to the Pitch. Judging by the sound coming from the stands, the whole castle had come down to watch the legendary match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Just as Harry led his team to the center of the pitch, Marcus Flint came out from under the stands on the other side of the pitch, leading the pack of Slytherins behind him.

Harry didn't expect the overwhelming anger that came over him when he caught eyes with Blaise. He couldn't help but be furious. Blaise had slept with Ginny, twice, right under Harry's nose. He tried his hardest not to give the Slytherin boy too much attention, and he stepped forward when Madam Hooch gestured to the team captains to shake hands.

Marcus' grip was tight, as it always was, but there was a special look of heightened malice in his eyes that day.

"How's Pansy?" Marcus muttered angrily before he chucked Harry's hand away and turned on his heels to head back towards his team mates. Harry sighed heavily, hating that he was actually dreading being up in the air.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle and tossed the Quaffle up into the air. Harry sped off as fast as he could, just narrowly missing Ginny, who zipped past him to reach the Quaffle before any of the Slytherins did. Maybe it was all in his head, but Harry was sure she had meant to knock him off his broom in the process.

Shaking his head, Harry tried hard to concentrate on the task at hand. He circled the pitch, carefully looking out for the little golden snitch that he knew was flying around just out of sight somewhere. The whole stands were suddenly erupting in applause and waving banners of red and gold. Ginny had just scored a goal.

The game was brutal, even for a Slytherin and Gryffindor match. Any time Marcus avoided a bludger, he seemed to be conveniently near Harry, and Ginny seemed to be beating Blaise to the Quaffle every time he went for it. The tension between the players was incredibly thick and Harry had still yet to see the snitch.

He scanned the stands briefly, catching sight of Pansy and Draco sitting next to each other in the Slytherin stands. Pansy was watching attentively, the wind whipping her black hair around her pale face. Harry was sure she was watching the tension mount between Blaise and Ginny, as Ginny stole one of the Beater's bats and hit a bludger his way. Draco, on the other hand, seemed to be ignoring the match all together. He wore a heavy wool peacoat, his hands shoved deep into the pockets, and a scowl on his lips as he stared off around the stands at the cheering students.

It happened so suddenly. A flash of gold glinted in front of his face and then disappeared. Harry blinked hard and spotted the snitch zipping off to the opposite end of the pitch.

He raced after it instantly, all other thoughts leaving his mind. The sooner he grabbed the snitch, the sooner this game and its brutalities would be over. The snitch turned sharply and dipped down and Harry dived after it. He had done enough sharp dives before in his Quidditch career to not have his confidence waver the closer he came to the ground.

He was just about to reach his hand out when something hard ran into him.

" _Oof_!" Harry felt his broom lurch as he turned upside down. He just stopped himself from falling off by gripping the broomstick tight with his thighs and he quickly righted himself. His green eyes swiveled around quickly to see what had attacked him, and a pit dropped into his stomach when he saw a mass of fiery red hair zipping away from him.

"Slytherin's caught the snitch! Slytherin wins an incredibly short but brutal match between the two biggest rival houses here at Hogwarts."

A collection of groans and gasps filled the stands and Harry whipped around in time to notice Slytherin's Seeker hovering just inches off the ground, his hand waving the snitch in the air with a smirk on his dark face. The Slytherin section of the stands went wild and Harry felt his blood beginning to boil. He barely had time to touch down and scan the pitch before Ginny disappeared into the locker rooms. Angered, Harry stomped after her, ignoring the sound of Hermione's voice calling his name in the distance.

He had only just thrown the tarp back at the entrance of the locker room and he was yelling before he even set eyes on her.

"Ginny what do you think you're doing?" His eyes scanned the room and he caught sight of her in the far corner, leaning her broom against the wall and pulling her gloves off. She refused to look at him; pretending as if he wasn't even there and hadn't just spoken to her. "You just lost us the game! What were you thinking? Were you seriously trying to run me off my broom?"

He saw Ginny roll her eyes but again she refused to say anything as she threw her gloves down onto the bench and began unclipping her boots.

Harry threw his hands up in the air, completely at a loss for words. He knew Ginny was angry about their break up, but it was her fault they broke up in the first place. She deserved to feel whatever she was feeling after what she had done to him.

"This was your fault Ginny," Harry said angrily, turning on his heels.

" _My_ fault?"

Harry turned back around and Ginny was now looking at him, her cheeks the same color as her hair and her eyes glaring.

"Yes Ginny, we broke up because of _you_ ,"

"What about you and Pansy?"

"What about you and Blaise?"

Ginny's lips pursed into a tight line and she quickly turned her head away from him. Harry stayed very still, waiting to see what she would say. When no words came, Harry turned on his heels and started out of the locker room.

"One more stunt like that Ginny and you're off the team for good," he warned, disappearing back outside.

* * *

When news of the Halloween party got out, it carried the same excited and nervous air as Pansy's inter-house unity party had. According to someone's source, the Halloween party would allow all seventh years from every house to be allowed into Gryffindor tower for a night of costumes and fun. Despite the midterm essays and tests coming upon them, all any of the students could talk about was the Halloween party.

"What are you going as?" Pansy asked excitedly as she waved her wand over the pin-cushion in front of her and transformed it into a glass bottle.

"I don't play dress up," Draco said, watching her instead of participating. Pansy took Draco's pin-cushion and replaced it with her bottle before practicing the spell again on his.

"You have to come Draco, I won't let you avoid going just because it's in Gryffindor tower and there's a chance you'll run into a certain someone," Pansy said seriously.

Draco rolled his eyes with a little sneer. "The only reason you're so confident in going is because you're actually looking forward to seeing a certain someone yourself."

Pansy's cheeks flared up a little. "So what if I am?" she said confidently, throwing her chin up in the air and trying to act nonchalant. "It's not like he's dating anyone anymore."

Draco snorted. "He's still Potter."

Pansy glared at him but didn't retort as she turned back to the pin-cushion.

"So what are you going as then?" Draco asked in a bored tone as he leaned back into his seat and raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to glance on the other side of the room. It had been nearly two weeks since his last run in with Hermione and he was beginning to grow antsy. Break was coming up, and the thought of the promise he had made to her in the library had begun to give him dreams at night.

"A harlot," Pansy said proudly.

Draco's other eyebrow shot up. "A prostitute?"

Pansy looked at him with disapproval. "There's a difference."

Draco shook his head, a little smirk forming on his pale lips. Pansy whacked his shoulder hard.

* * *

"What do you mean you're not coming down?" Harry asked, blinking up the staircase at her. He had washed his Quidditch robes and were intending to wear them as a costume, since he couldn't really see himself wearing anything else, nor did he conveniently have a costume on hand to wear last minute.

Hermione shifted on the step, pulling her book tighter to her chest. She had already changed into her pajamas as soon as classes let out for the day. She was hoping to have snuck off to the girl's dormitory before Harry could track her down before the party.

"I just don't really feel like going to a party," Hermione said, trying to keep her blush down. She felt her heart hammering in her chest, thinking about having to suffer through another alcohol-filled night with Draco in the same room as her.

"But Hermione, I just thought that-"

"Harry, you and Ron told me that if I went to that inter-house unity party that you wouldn't bother me anymore about going to any others. Remember?"

Harry stared up at her for a long moment, taking in her determined expression, before he sighed and shrugged a little. "Alright, sorry. What are you going to do all night then?"

"I was just going to read and relax-" Hermione was cut off by loud squealing and giggles erupting from the girl's dormitory at the top of the stairs. Hermione winced and Harry smiled.

"Why don't you read in the boy's dormitory? Most of us have already changed, and it's quieter."

Hermione thought about this, imagining trying to read while the girls came and went in the dormitory all night long, growing drunker and drunker as the night went on. Nodding her head in agreement, she descended the steps and followed Harry up to the boy's dormitory. Harry set about fixing up his bed before he waved a hand towards it. Hermione sat herself down just as Seamus came into the room dressed as a muggle interpretation of a vampire, with a high collared cloak and fake teeth to match.

"Harry, everyone is arriving, come on," he said, before disappearing back out the door.

"Come find me if you need something," Harry said, giving her a once over. She could tell he wanted to convince her to come downstairs with him, but she had already made up her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was cross paths with Draco. She was trying to cleanse herself of him. And avoiding him was the only way to do that.

Hermione nodded and curled up under Harry's sheets and he headed out the door and down to the party.

* * *

"How fitting," Pansy said, placing her hands on her hips and smiling big with red painted lips as Draco came up from the boy's dormitory, a pair of devil-horns contrasting sharply off his pale hair and dressed in a simple all black suit.

"How are you not a prostitute again?" Draco said, ignoring her statement and raising an eyebrow at her scantily clad outfit with fishnet stockings and a tight bustier that pushed her breasts up into noticeable view.

"If you ask me that again I'll curse you," Pansy said simply, grabbing her clutch, which held both Draco's and her wands in them. "Come on, everyone else has already left for the party."

Draco followed Pansy up the seven flights of stairs towards the Gryffindor tower, trying to keep his mind from jumping immediately to the only person he was hoping to cross paths with that night. It was true what Pansy said, that he had been avoiding the party in hopes of avoiding Hermione. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stop himself if he were to find himself alone with her. But life was about taking risks and Pansy could be very convincing when she wanted to be.

"Why, I say," The Fat Lady in the oil painting said when Pansy and Draco stopped in front of her. "What a pair," she said distastefully, eyeing the horns on Draco's head and the outfit that Pansy wore.

Ignoring her, Pansy knocked hard on the side of the portrait. The Fat Lady grumbled something angrily and Draco and Pansy gave each other little smirks before the portrait hole opened from the inside. A Ravenclaw boy dressed as a muggle rock singer looked out at them, gave Pansy a once-over, and then stepped aside to allow them to come in.

The common room had been decorated with little floating pumpkins and enchanted paper bats that flew around and occasionally dipped down to tug playfully at someone's hair.

"It's quite small compared to ours," Draco said with a little note of pride in his voice, his gray eyes quickly scanning the room for a familiar head of bushy hair.

"I don't see her either," Pansy said, ignoring him.

Draco's jaw clenched at her words. "I'm going to get a drink." He disappeared into the crowd in search of Firewhiskey, leaving Pansy to smirk after him.

She turned on her heels and her smirk diminished quickly when she caught sight of Ginny on the other side of the room. The girl's red hair was straightened and seemed longer than ever, almost reaching down to the little white ball of fluff on her butt. The long ears that sat on her head and drawn on whiskers made her look like a bunny. Her blue eyes darted over and looked at her, eyeing her up and down, before she quickly took a sip from her drink and looked away back to her friends.

Pansy took a shaky breath, unable to not feel unnerved. Sooner or later she would have to come face to face with Ginny Weasley and her wraith. She was just hoping it would be later.

"You came," a familiar voice said from behind her. Pansy allowed a confident smirk to light up her face as she turned to look at Harry.

"I never miss the chance to come to a party," she said slyly, glancing over his Quidditch robes and chuckling a little. "Couldn't come up with a costume?"

Harry shrugged sheepishly, scratching at his hair. "I've never been very creative."

Pansy gave a little laugh, feeling the impending doom of Ginny slip to the back of her mind.

* * *

Draco sighed as he picked up an unopened bottle of Firewhiskey from the back of the long table full of alcoholic beverages. He popped it open before taking a sip, trying hard not to give the room yet another look about. It was obvious that Hermione wasn't there, and he felt foolish for feeling so disappointed about this fact.

Shaking his head, Draco took another drink as Seamus and Ron approached the other end of the table.

"Where's Hermione you reckon? She always had a way of pulling our group back together," Ron was saying as he reached for a cup of something that Draco couldn't distinguish. Draco tried hard to act like he was fascinated with his drink. "Maybe she could get Ginny to talk to Harry, or Harry to talk to Ginny. It was just embarrassing what happened on the pitch today."

Seamus gave a shrug. "I don't know why she's not here. She was set up in the boy's dormitory reading last I saw her. I think Harry tried to make her come down but, you know how Hermione is about partying."

Ron shook his head before the two boys started back into the crowd. Draco waited an extra moment before setting his Firewhiskey down on the table and turning to look at the stairs leading off to the dormitories. He stared at them, unable to convince himself that going up would be a bad idea.

Draco looked around the room, spotting Pansy by the fireplace talking happily to Harry, her smile large and her eyes sparkling. The sight made him uncomfortable and Draco tore his gaze away, his jaw clenching tightly. He could already hear Pansy scolding him in the back of his head. However, it was her idea to come to the party to confront Hermione in the first place. He was merely doing what she said.

Without a second thought, Draco started for the stairs. He stopped before them, glancing over his shoulder at the party. Everyone seemed distracted with each other. The room was smaller compared to the Slytherin common room, and it was nearly impossible to pick out a single person from the mass of them all.

Draco turned on his heels and started up the stairs as quietly as possible.

* * *

Hermione sighed as the music from downstairs filtered up dimly to the dormitory. She tried hard to focus on her novel but quickly found it unable to hold her attention. She set the book aside and leaned back into Harry's pillows, closing her eyes. Maybe she could sleep for a bit, at least until the party was over and Harry came to wake her. It would also make the time go by faster and she wouldn't be left worrying about whether a certain someone was just below her or not.

She had just pulled the blankets up to her chin when the door opened briefly, the music growing louder before dulling again as the door was closed.

Hermione listened for any signs of someone moving around the room, but when she could not hear footsteps or the sound of someone rummaging in a trunk, Hermione opened her eyes.

Her blood chilled instantly at the sight that met her.

Draco stood by the closed door, his hands clenched behind his back, wearing a neatly pressed, all black suit and a pair of bright red devil-horns on his pale head. His cold eyes were staring right at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

After overcoming the shock of seeing him standing there, Hermione slowly sat up, gripping the sheets tight in her fingers.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked, trying not to let her voice shake. It was only Draco after all. What could he possibly do to her?

"Looking for you," he stated simply. Hermione stiffened in bed.

"How did you know I would be up here?"

"I overheard some of your friends talking."

"So you _are_ stalking me," Hermione said, though she instantly wished she hadn't. Thinking about their last encounter in the library made her blush and she could only hope that the light in the room was dark enough to hide it from her face.

Draco didn't move from the door or say anything. Hermione shifted uncomfortably under his gaze before she cleared her throat loudly, as though to draw his attention.

"Well, you found me. What do you want?"

Draco's eyebrows scrunched together and his pale lips turned into a thin line before he sighed through his nose. "I'm not sure." His voice sounded frustrated and sincere and Hermione scowled at this. "You've been avoiding me," he continued. His voice was not accusatory, but rather matter-of-factly.

"I suppose," she said quietly. Apparently her confirming his theory was not what he had wanted to hear when he came looking for her.

"Why?"

Hermione sighed with frustration, running her hands through her hair. "Because Malfoy, it's not a good idea for us to be around each other." When she looked up at him, she was surprised to find him looking at her with a contemplative look on his face, as though he were concentrating very hard on something.

"Are you having second thoughts about the upcoming break?"

Silence filled the air between them. A thick silence that even the music downstairs couldn't seem to penetrate. Hermione stared Draco down and his expression never changed as he looked back at her.

"I…" Hermione hesitated. Had she been having second thoughts about what they planned to do over break? Certainly she must be. She had been having second thoughts about everything from the moment Draco had kissed her in the broom cupboard the night of the inter-house unity party. "I don't know."

Draco suddenly looked angry. His jaw was clenched and he turned his gaze away from her to look off at a wall, his expression hardening quickly. Hermione felt herself grow nervous, though she didn't know why. Perhaps she had been avoiding him all this time because she didn't want to face him when she told him this.

Hemione shifted on the bed and Draco's eyes whipped around to look at her.

"Why?" he asked again.

Hermione blinked at him, feeling her neck warming up as well as her cheeks. "I just think that-"

"You're lying," he was sneering at her now. The ugly look of hatred that he always used to wear when he had looked at her was back. It had been so long since she had seen it that seeing it now made her pause in shock.

"I'm not," she said, trying to sound indignant. "This is a bad idea Malfoy. Harry and Pansy are one thing but we're… We're different."

"You're right, we are," Draco said sternly, his expression never faltering as he took a few steps towards the center of the room, his eyes never leaving her. "We're tougher. We fight harder. We don't back down from things. So what has you running scared Granger?"

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest as though to protect herself from his words. "I'm not running from _anything_ except a mistake, Malfoy."

Draco sneered even more at this. "You think I'm a mistake?"

Hermione thought about this. She thought about their kiss shared in the broom cupboard, and the way his fingers had slid under her skirt in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, or the way his mouth felt on her neck in the trophy room during their detention. She couldn't say that she didn't enjoy those moments. But in the overall scheme of things, yes, they were a mistake. They shouldn't have happened at all.

"What are you so afraid of?" Draco asked and Hermione didn't notice that he had advanced towards the end of the bed.

"I'm afraid of what you should be afraid of," Hermione snapped back at him, feeling herself becoming angered by this conversation and his sudden appearance. She had hidden out in the boy's dormitory in an attempt to hide from him, and now here he was, disrupting her peace yet again. "Aren't you afraid of tainting yourself?"

"With what?"

"Each other."

"I don't understand," Draco seemed just as angry, though his voice had cleared of all malice. He was looking at her with a very calculated expression.

"I'm a muggleborn," Hermione said desperately, remembering all those times he had insulted her or flinched away from contacting her in any way.

"I already told you I've stopped caring about that stuff since the war," Draco pressed on, his expression more unreadable than when he had first stepped into the room. "What else is it?"

Hermione began to feel panicked. "It isn't right."

"Who cares?" He really did sound like the devil.

Hermione shook her head sharply, a knot beginning to form in the back of her throat. "I can't do it."

"Why _not_?"

"I don't know if I want it to be with you!" Hermione said earnestly.

"You don't know if-" Draco's face suddenly blanked. He stared her down, his pale lips parted in the slightest way, and his gray eyes gazing intently over her face, as though searching for something. Hermione felt her breath hitch in her throat along with the knot and her stomach gave a lurch. "Granger," Draco said slowly, stepping around the bed to look down at her.

Hermione had the sudden thought to shrink away from him but she stood her ground, clenching her teeth together and trying to breath normally.

"At the party. You drank." He said firmly, as though trying to convince her and himself of this fact. Hermione felt a stone drop into the pit of her stomach.

"I just meant that… It's not right… It would be best if we just didn't…" she said slowly, trying to sound calm, but the look in Draco's eyes already confirmed her worst fear.

"You're still a virgin," Draco said almost breathlessly.

Hermione shook her head. "No I… I drank that night-"

"To upset Weasley," Draco said, his jaw clenched again. "But you lied."

Hermione felt her whole face light up with shame and embarrassment. "Malfoy, you can't-"

Draco was already taking several steps away from her, looking unsettled by something.

"Malfoy you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone," Hermione said, pushing the sheets back and standing up. As soon as she was on her feet Draco had backpedaled several steps towards the door. He seemed lost in his own mind, shaking his head and running fingers through his hair, knocking the devil-horns off his head. They bounced to the floor but neither of them took notice of them. A look passed over his face but it was there and gone long before Hermione had time to recognize it.

"I just don't-"

"You're right," Draco said suddenly, cutting her off. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, looking at him. His eyes locked with hers. "It shouldn't be with me," he said sternly, his voice distant and cold. Hermione hesitated, unable to come up with the correct way to react to this situation.

Draco turned on his heels and started towards the door before he yanked it open.

"I just-"

"It shouldn't be with me Granger," Draco repeated, as though to convince them both, pausing in the door frame and looking over his shoulder at her. The look he gave her was more intimidating than that of the devil he pretended to be that night, and she felt her whole body freeze over as he sneered. "I don't care enough about you to want that."

He turned away and disappeared out of the room, closing the door behind him with a solid snap.

Hermione stared at the door, her mouth slightly open in stilled shock at what had just happened, and it took her a long moment to finally notice that she was crying. She was crying over Draco? Taking a step back, Hermione sat herself down on the side of the bed, feeling numb. Why was she crying? Because Draco didn't want to take her virginity? Or did a small part of her believe that maybe he did care about her, at least a little, at least enough to not mind that she was still a virgin. But did she really _want_ him to be the one to take it from her?

She just couldn't figure out why his reaction hurt her so much.

Reaching her hand up, she tried to wipe the tears away, but to her utmost dismay, the more she wiped them away the more she cried, and before she could fully comprehend the hurt feelings she was experiencing, she was sobbing uncontrollably into the pillows on Harry's bed.

* * *

Pansy giggled as Harry's lips traced her jaw, her hands intertwined with his messy hair. She could feel his hands gripping firmly to her hips, tugging her closer to him and she giggled again. The corridor of the seventh floor was dark and completely deserted and Pansy felt incredibly free now that she wasn't under the watchful eye of Ginny.

"I keep thinking about that day," Harry said quietly against her skin and Pansy bit her lip in response. "It's been so long…"

"Only a couple of weeks," Pansy breathed, though she couldn't help but allow her head to lull back and her eyes to close on their own accord. "I've been thinking about it too," she finally admitted. "We should find someplace quiet to go,"

The words had only just left her lips when the portrait hole concealing the Gryffindor common room down the hall opened. Pansy opened her eyes and glanced over Harry's shoulder to see who it was and her mind instantly stilled when she saw the familiar head of blonde exit into the corridor.

Draco looked distressed as he ran his fingers through his hair and took off toward the staircase without a backwards glance. Pansy watched him go and she debated on letting him be, but something inside her told her that something wasn't right and that Draco was upset.

With all the will she could muster, Pansy pushed against Harry's chest to stop his trail of kisses down her throat. He looked at her from behind his glasses with furrowed eyebrows.

"What's wrong?" he whispered in the dark. Pansy sighed, resting a hand on his cheek.

"Draco just left the common room. He looked really upset about something," She could feel Harry's shoulders slump and his hands loosen from her hips.

"Alright, go on then," he said, giving her hips a little squeeze. "But I want to see you soon."

Pansy smiled up at him in the dark and reached up to plant a firm kiss on his lips. For a moment she allowed herself to get wrapped up in his touch again before she quickly pulled herself away.

"Goodnight Harry," she said before hurrying off into the dark of the corridors to find where Draco had slinked off to, no doubt to nurse whatever wounds he had gotten.


	14. Viktor Krum

**Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

She saw him as soon as she entered the empty Slytherin common room. He was fast walking towards the staircase to the boy's dormitory, unbuttoning his black button down hastily. She could tell by the way he was walking, all stiff-legged, that something was wrong.

"Draco, what is wrong with you?" Pansy asked incredulously, hurrying towards him.

Draco turned on his heels so fast and looked at her with such a pained expression that Pansy stilled instantly. The top buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing his pale chest, which rose and fell rapidly, as though he had just run a few miles. Pansy's cheery attitude from earlier slowly disappeared and she felt dread beginning to build up inside of her.

"Draco?" she asked, taking a hesitant step towards him. His eyes seemed unfocused and she could almost see his mind going a mile a minute. "Draco, what is it? Why did you leave so fast?"

"I ran into Granger." He said curtly.

Pansy stiffened. "What happened? I thought you guys-"

"It's over," Draco turned on his heels to start back towards the stairs. Pansy rushed forward and grabbed him by the elbow. Draco yanked his arm away but turned to look at her, a sneer on his lips.

"Draco _stop._ Would you just talk to me?" Pansy looked over his face but his expression was stony and unreadable. "I know you're scared to like Hermione but-"

"I'm not," Draco said harshly, running his fingers through his hair and looking away from her. Pansy's eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Then what it is? What's wrong?"

Draco pursed his lips together, his hands visibly shaking by his sides. Suddenly he turned to look at her and one of his hands grabbed her by the arm, trapping her in a vice like grip. Pansy didn't even flinch, staring up into his pale face with concern etched onto her own.

"Draco?"

"She can't be with me," he said roughly, as though he were forcing the words out of his mouth.

"What are you-"

" _Look_ at me Pansy," Draco sneered and Pansy hesitantly took in his appearance. His disheveled hair and skewed shirt, his flushed cheeks and pale face and angry eyes. "Do you really expect Granger to be with someone like me?"

"… Someone like you?"

"She's a virgin," he spit out, ripping his hand away from her and turning to pace by the leather couch. Pansy gaped at him.

" _So_? What does that have to do with _anything_ Draco?"

Draco turned on her and he looked momentarily broken. Like he couldn't think straight or see in front of him, like he couldn't find the answer to something even if he felt like it was staring him in the face.

"Do you really think that Granger won't regret being with _me_ her first time? Draco rudding Malfoy?"

Pansy blinked slowly, her mouth still hanging slightly open. "Draco… that's not your decision to make. If Hermione wants to have her first time with you then-"

"Well she doesn't," Draco spat, his breathing haggard. "I'm a _mistake_. I'm a _bad idea_. She doesn't want to _be seen too close to me_." Draco resumed his pacing and Pansy watched him, her heart beating faster.

"Where do you get that idea?"

"She told me." Draco grumbled, his eyes intent on the floor. Suddenly he turned and slapped the top of the table next to him, trying to release all of the anger he felt inside of him. "What was I thinking Pansy? Having a thing with Hermione Granger. What is wrong with me?"

Pansy hurried towards him, stopping in front of him to still his pacing and placing both her hands on his shaking shoulders.

"Draco, there is nothing wrong with you," she said quietly, looking up into his face. He refused to meet her eyes, his jaw clenched and his eyes cloudy. "She's scared too you know," Pansy said, gripping his shoulders tightly. "We all are. We're playing in dangerous waters here. Me and Harry, you and Hermione, Blaise and Ginny. That's why she said all those things."

Draco rolled his eyes, still refusing to look at her.

"Draco, if you just talk to her-"

"I can't do that to her," Draco said quietly, his hands sliding into the pockets of his slacks. Pansy's eyebrows pulled together. Draco took a shaky breath. "She doesn't want to be with me. I can't trick her into… sleeping with me. I can't take that away from her." His gray eyes flickered over and connected with hers and Pansy felt a pang hit her chest.

She reached a gentle hand up and placed it on his cheek, her pale lips parted and her eyes slightly wide.

"You like her… don't you?"

Draco looked away again, the muscles of his jaw moving under her fingers as he clenched his mouth shut. He looked incredibly beat up and disappointed and Pansy didn't know what to do. She let her hand fall before she tugged on his arm and led him towards the leather couch. She forced him to sit before taking the spot next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle and leaning her cheek against his shoulder.

His arm tightened around her waist, drawing her into him, and he let out a shaky sigh.

"She needs to hate me," he said, staring off at the opposite side of the room. "I'm not good for her. Everyone knows that."

Pansy bit her lip before she turned to look up at him. "When did it happen?" she whispered.

Draco didn't answer immediately, reaching his fingers up and running them through Pansy's hair as he stared off. "I don't know," he finally said, a defeated tone slipping into his voice. "I just woke up one day and…" his voice trailed off. When it became apparent that he was not going to finish his sentence, Pansy leaned her head on his shoulder again.

She felt him press his lips to her forehead before he leaned his head back. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest and she wondered fleetingly if it was breaking.

* * *

"Pansy,"

Pansy turned quickly to see Harry hurrying towards her. She almost thought about turning and running. What was he doing? The Entrance Hall was filled to the brim with hung over students looking for breakfast. Someone was going to see them talking to each other. But the look on Harry's face caused her to forget about the others around them.

"Harry? What is it?" she asked.

Harry pulled to a stop in front of her and glanced around at the few people staring at them before he turned to look at her. He looked like he was extremely angry about something, yet he was trying his hardest to appear calm and normal. Pansy felt a stone drop in her stomach. Was he angry at her for leaving the party early?

Suddenly, Harry reached into his bag and pulled something out of it. He held up the bright red devil-horns that Pansy instantly recognized as Draco's and her eyes darted over to lock eyes with him.

"I don't understand," Pansy said, trying to appear calm, though doing a far better job at covering up her panic than Harry was.

"I think you do," Harry said, taking her by the shoulder and forcing her into an empty classroom off to the side. He closed the door behind them and turned to look at her, thrusting the headband towards her. "I know these are Malfoy's. They were in my dormitory. I found them right after I consoled Hermione, who was crying when I found her."

Pansy hesitantly reached out and took the headband, thinking over her talk with Draco last night.

 _You can't tell anyone Pansy… I need her to think I don't care. She'll make an irrational decision and I don't know if I could stop myself if she came onto me. It's just better this way._

"What did he do to Hermione?" Harry asked sternly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at her expectantly.

Pansy bit her lip, gripping the headband tight in her fingers and trying to think fast. She was hoping that at breakfast she could have discussed with Draco what the cover story was supposed to be, but he had failed to leave the boy's dormitory that morning. Pansy looked up at him and he raised his eyebrows, anxiously waiting for her to explain.

"Harry, you don't understand," Pansy said helplessly, for once in her life unable to come up with a suitable lie.

"Don't understand that your friend is an asshole who used mine for sex?"

Pansy's mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Harry said, looking angrier by the minute. "Malfoy never cared about Hermione. He was only playing her. And last night, he came onto her, and when she tried to tell him to stop, he got angry-"

"Sorry to inform you, _Wonder Boy_ , but it looks like your friend is lying to you," Pansy spat, feeling her blood beginning to boil.

"Then what's the truth?" Harry said, glaring at her.

Pansy felt conflicted. Either she could tell Harry what she knew; that Hermione had lied about her virginity and Draco felt too guilty about who he is as a person to take it from her, and that she didn't want him to anyway, and so Draco made it seem like he didn't care about her as a way for her to never want him. Or she could say nothing, keep both of their secrets and have Harry be angry at her for who knows how long. Perhaps he would never get over it.

Pansy sighed heavily and set the headband down on a desk before sitting down next to him, dropping her head into her hands. Her mind raced a mile a minute before she finally looked up at him, straightening herself up. He was looking at her expectantly.

"Hermione lied at the inter-house unity party," Pansy said truthfully, wringing her hands together. Harry's anger cleared a little when he noticed how worried Pansy looked and he approached her, stopping in front of her.

"She lied about what?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together.

"She… never had sex with anyone. During never have I ever, someone said they'd never had sex and Hermione drank to it. She did it to piss off Ron."

Harry blinked at her. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked, saying the exact words Pansy had said last night when she had confronted Draco.

"Everything, apparently," Pansy said, sighing. "Draco told me not to say anything. I think he's started to fall for her. But, apparently every time they're together, Hermione reminds him that it's a bad idea that they're together, and she tries to tell him they shouldn't be, and she tells him what they do is just a mistake." Pansy took a breath. "Draco and Hermione planned to… have sex for the first time over break. But last night, Draco found out Hermione was still a virgin, and he feels like he isn't the right person for Hermione to be with for her first time. He told her he didn't care enough about her to take her virginity, and he left."

Harry ran a hand through his hair, looking confused and thoughtful. Silence hung in the air between them before finally Harry shook his head.

"So… Malfoy hurt her, because he likes her?"

Pansy shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "Draco doesn't do well when dealing with emotions. I'm not saying what he did was right but… it's definitely something he would do, if he thought Hermione would be better off without him."

"Well, then we have to tell Hermione."

Pansy's hand shot out and grabbed Harry's arm before he even had the chance to move. "No, you can't."

"Pansy, who Hermione gives her virginity to isn't up to anyone else but Hermione. And while I hate the idea that she'd give it up to Malfoy, she needs to know the truth before she makes a decision."

Pansy bit her lip. "Draco thinks she already has."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, last night, Draco went looking for her to talk about their plans for the break. But when he found her, she told him that she didn't know if she was having second thoughts about it and that it would be a bad idea for them to be together." Pansy gave his arm a tug and pulled him towards her. Harry leaned his hands on either side of her and Pansy wrapped her arms around his middle. "I know you don't like him Harry, but he's my best friend. I think he got his heart broken last night…"

Harry snorted under his breath. "I didn't realize he had one."

Pansy smiled a little and Harry leaned in, planting a small kiss on her lips.

"I think we need to let them figure it out," Pansy said quietly. "I hate to see him like this but… if Hermione really said those things, then maybe it is for the best. Maybe Draco just isn't the right guy for her."

Harry looked around the room, as though casting about for something to say, before he finally looked back at her. "Well, a year ago I would have agreed with you," he said hesitantly. "But I'll follow your lead. You seem to know more than I do."

Pansy smiled, "As usual," she said slyly, pulling his head to hers and kissing him.

"So, Wonder Boy, huh?" Harry asked, smirking a little against her lips.

Pansy let out a laugh.

* * *

Hermione stilled on her way to the Great Hall, an icy feeling falling in the pit of her stomach. Draco stood on the other side of the door, talking to Professor Flitwick, a tired expression on his pale face. Hermione bit her lip, trying to gather her courage, but her feet wouldn't move.

She had played her conversation with Draco last night over and over again in her head and she still felt sick every time she got to the part with him walking out the door. She knew that telling him about her lie would come back to haunt her. She just didn't realize that he would actually leave when he found out.

She almost turned and ran when she came to and realized he was staring at her. Professor Flitwick had waddled off to the long table of teacher's and Draco simply stood there on the other side of the threshold, looking at her. Hermione felt heat rise into her cheeks and she looked down at her feet, scolded herself, looked back up at him, flushed even worse, before finally forcing her feet to move. She hurried past him and a part of her thought that he was going to stop her.

But she moved past him uninterrupted and headed for the Gryffindor table. By the time she took a seat beside Ginny and looked up at the doors, Draco had disappeared.

Hermione sighed heavily and rested her forehead in her heads, trying desperately to keep her head on straight.

She tried to reason with herself that she had done the right thing. Pushing Draco away was exactly what she had wanted to do, wasn't it? She knew deep down that giving her virginity to Draco Malfoy was a mistake. She should feel relieved that he had taken the opportunity and left instead of fighting until she caved. What if they had slept together and Hermione only realized afterwards what a mistake it had been?

No, it was better to end things before they even began.

"Oh gross," Ginny's voice said with a tone of disgust beside her.

Hermione looked up at the doors in time to see Harry kiss Pansy's cheek, in front of the whole Great Hall, before they parted ways. Her going to the Slytherin table and him heading right for Hermione. Ginny grabbed her bag and quickly stood, disappearing further down the table before Harry even got halfway to them and leaving Hermione alone.

He sat himself down beside her, giving her a long look. Hermione scowled at him. She wasn't in the mood for him to analyze her.

"What?" she said, perhaps a bit harsher than she meant to.

"Are you feeling okay?" Harry asked, piling food onto his plate.

"Are you? You're the one that just kissed Pansy Parkinson in front of the whole Great Hall," Hermione said, casting a glance towards Ginny, who was staring over at the Slytherin table with annoyance.

Harry smiled a little. "I guess I'm just not afraid to be with someone as long as it feels right to me."

Hermione whipped around to glare at him, but Harry was already immersed in the Daily Prophet that had been deliver before Hermione had arrived. She looked him over, looking for any sign that he might know the truth. But no, he was just being vague. He was happy to be with Pansy. And she was happy to be with him. Which was great for them.

Hermione tried to eat her breakfast but she had suddenly lost her appetite.

* * *

Exams came and went in a flurry of stress, except for the seventh years, who could see the end of their Hogwart's days so close in sight that their minds were the furthest from school work than they'd ever been.

Draco spent most of his free time holed up in the Slytherin common room, drinking Firewhiskey and waiting for Pansy to come back with dinner. At one point Pansy told him that she was concerned for him, but Draco merely brushed it off and told her he was staying inside studying for midterms.

Now that the exams were over, however, Draco was finding it more difficult to come up with an excuse as to why he was avoiding the rest of the castle.

Pansy sat down next to him, looking annoyed as she reached over and yanked the half drank Firewhiskey bottle from his fingers.

"That's it Draco Lucius Malfoy, I've had just about enough of this," Pansy stood and waved her wand and the bottle vanished into thin air. Draco rolled his eyes with a little sneer. "You are coming to the feast tonight. I don't care what you say. You have to leave this common room."

It only took an hour for Pansy to badger him and force him to change before they were heading towards the Great Hall, Pansy looking triumphant and Draco looking annoyed as she kept a tight hold to his arm to make sure he didn't turn and make a run for it.

"I'm sure they'll have your favorite pudding there," Pansy said, in a desperate attempt to cheer him up. "And besides, everybody left yesterday after the exams ended."

"Most everybody," Draco grumbled, trying not to portray any tones in his voice.

Pansy glanced at him out of the corner of her eye but didn't say anything as they entered the Great Hall. It was decorated as usual with giant trees and holly and silver tinsel. Little snowflakes fluttered down from the ceiling, stopping halfway and disappearing into thin air. Draco chanced a glance towards the Gryffindor table and when he noticed that Hermione seemed to be missing from the table, he breathed out a sigh of relief he hadn't known he had been holding in.

"See?" Pansy said, looking over as well as she led him towards the Slytherin table, where Blaise sat alone in the very middle. "Everything is fine."

Draco sat down at the Slytherin table and Pansy sat between him and Blaise. Blaise looked up at her and rolled his eyes, moving to stand, but Pansy reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Blaise, it's almost Christmas. Please sit with us."

Blaise eyed her carefully before glancing at Draco. Finally, he sat himself back down, tucking into his food once more. Pansy seemed to relax, having both of her boys back on either side of her, and she began to pile food onto Draco's plate while his eyes gazed around the room. He felt like any moment now Hermione would pop up and interrupt this moment of peace.

Truthfully, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since his talk with Pansy. He couldn't believe what he had almost let slip when they had been sitting on the couch talking. Shaking his head, Draco turned to his food and began to eat.

It almost seemed normal again. Pansy didn't talk about Harry Potter or say his first time. Blaise barely spoke unless it was to comment on something they said. Draco and Pansy bantered about every little thing possible. It was like nothing had changed. Until Blaise asked what their plans were for Christmas.

Pansy shifted in her seat, busying herself with dessert, and Draco already knew what was coming before she even said it.

"Well… Harry and I were planning on going into Hogsmeade on Christmas Eve," Pansy said, trying to sound confident and normal. "You're more than welcome to come if you want."

"And spend a night with you and Wonder Boy?" Blaise asked while Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. "No thanks Pansy. Just because I don't hate you guys together doesn't mean I want to spend time with you two."

Pansy stuck her tongue out at him before she turned to look hesitantly at Draco.

"What about you?" she asked cautiously, as though he were a time bomb about to explode. Draco rolled his eyes at this, turning back to his favorite pudding that Pansy had said was there. She was, as usual, correct.

"I think I'll just stay in too," he said, taking a large bite to avoid answering anymore questions.

"Is that who I think it is?" Blaise suddenly said, his eyes gazing off to the doors of the Great Hall.

Pansy and Draco both followed his gaze and Pansy's hand instantly shot out to grab Draco's arm. Coming in through the doors was Hermione Granger, looking exceptionally happy and well groomed, with Viktor Krum next to her, talking rapidly and waving his hands around. The three Slytherins watched as the duo made their way towards the Gryffindor table and sit down.

They had only just began to put food on their plates when Draco suddenly stood so fast that the bench scrapped the floor under him. Pansy jumped at the noise and Blaise whipped around to look at him.

"I'm done eating," Draco announced before he started for the doors.

"What's wrong with him?" Blaise asked, looking bewildered. Pansy sighed heavily, running her fingers through her hair.

"I wish I could explain Blaise, I do. Thanks for sitting with us," Pansy said, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "I'll see you around," she said before she hurried after Draco's disappearing figure. Pansy glanced at the Gryffindor table and her eyes met Hermione's for just a moment. The brown eyed Gryffindor was watching Draco and Pansy disappear from the room before she tore her gaze away and looked back at Viktor.

Harry looked up in time to spot Hermione rounding the corner, a smile on her face that he hadn't seen since the start of exams.

"Hermione, hey," Harry said, jumping at the opportunity to see her be happy. Just then Viktor rounded the corner as well, stopping beside Hermione and giving Harry a smile. Harry blinked in surprise and tried not to let his smile falter. "And Krum! Wow, that's quite a surprise," Harry said truthfully.

Viktor nodded enthusiastically. "It was a surprise for me too when I've received a letter from Herminny just last week," he reported happily.

Harry's eyes instantly landed on Hermione, who smiled a tight-lipped smile at him.

"Yes, well, I was telling Harry just a few weeks ago how much I missed talking to you," Hermione prodded, looking at Harry with an expectant gaze. Harry looked between them before he slowly nodded, desperate to cling to the smile he was sure looked exaggerated now on his face.

"Oh yeah, doesn't stop talking about you really," Harry said. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go see someone," Harry gave Hermione a look but he wasn't sure Hermione noticed as she was already flouncing away, tugging at Viktor's arm.

Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach that it was just as much a surprise to Hermione that she had sent a letter to Viktor as it was for Viktor to receive it. Harry's mind instantly thought of the Slytherins that were now very much a part of his life and he started off at a fast walk for the dungeons.

When he arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, he spoke the password without a second thought. The snake in the portrait glared at him, as though annoyed that anyone other than a Slytherin knew the password, before the door opened and Harry climbed his way inside. He stopped instantly when he spotted a large group of fourth year Slytherins sitting in the corner playing exploding snap. They all turned their eyes to look at him and Harry almost forgot that just because Gryffindor tower was mostly empty, that didn't mean all the other houses would be as well.

"What are you doing here?" One of them asked loudly, standing to his feet.

"Oh Harry,"

Harry let out a breath of relief and turned to see Pansy standing from near the fireplace and heading towards him. She kissed his cheek and pulled him towards the leather couches. The fourth years slowly went back to their game as they sat down.

"What are you doing here?" Pansy asked, pulling her feet up under her.

"I saw someone just a bit ago that I was quite shocked to see," Harry said before he told her all about his encounter with Viktor. When he was done, Pansy didn't look nearly as shocked as he thought she would be.

"I saw him tonight too, in the Great Hall. I finally got Draco out of the common room and then this happens," Pansy grumbled, leaning back into the couch and crossing her arms over her chest with a scowl.

"Well, what I don't understand is, Hermione hasn't talked about Krum in years. I just can't imagine why she would send him a letter now inviting him to Hogwarts," Harry mused, reaching a hand up and running it through his hair. Pansy shrugged next to him.

"Maybe it's the whole thing with Draco. She might be feeling upset after what he said," Pansy bit her lip. "You might want to keep an eye on them. Make sure Hermione doesn't make any rash decisions, you know?"

Harry nodded before he leaned over and gave her a kiss. Pansy smiled, her mind instantly void of any thoughts of Draco and Hermione and Viktor.

"Are we still going to Hogsmeade for Christmas Eve?" Harry asked and Pansy nodded. Harry gave her another kiss before he lumbered to his feet. "I'll track down Hermione and Viktor I guess, make sure she's not doing anything irrational."

* * *

Pansy pulled the sheets back in her bed and climbed in, glancing around at the empty dormitory. She hadn't realized how many seventh year girls had left for the holidays. She thought about Harry and how they'd finally have a place to be alone after waiting for so long and she suddenly became very excited for Christmas Eve.

She was just about to blow out the candle on her nightstand when the door creaked open. Pansy whipped around and almost yelled when she caught sight of Draco standing there looking at her, his face was covered in shadows, but his hair was luminescent in the fire light.

"Draco, how did you get past the enchantments on the staircase?" Pansy asked, her eyebrows pulling together. Draco didn't say anything as he crossed the room towards her.

Pansy watched worriedly as he pulled the sheets back and laid down next to her, much like she had done when she had gone looking for him in the boy's dormitory after he had gotten into a fight with Harry.

"Draco? Are you alright?" Pansy asked, sinking down into the pillows as Draco pulled the covers to his chin and leaned his head against her shoulder. Silence followed her question and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him to her. Finally, he spoke up, in a harsh, disgruntled whisper.

"I sent the letter to Viktor Krum."

Pansy blinked into the semi-light room, scowling heavily. "What?" she asked.

Draco sighed and pressed his face further into her neck, as though to disappear. "I sent the letter to Krum, pretending to be Granger, and invited him to the castle to stay with her over break," he mumbled into her skin. Pansy shook her head slowly, as though trying to process this information.

"Why would you do that?" she asked.

"I thought it'd keep me away from her."

Pansy stayed quiet, reaching a hand up and running her fingers through his silky hair, her mind racing a mile a minute.

"Did it work?" she asked quietly. Draco sighed so heavily Pansy thought his body would break and he yanked the sheets further up to cover his face.

"Can I stay here tonight?" his voice said with frustration through the sheets blocking his face.

Pansy rolled over and took a breath before blowing out the candle. "Of course you can."


	15. Christmas Eve

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello hello everyone. Sorry for the delay in uploading a new chapter but my computer broke down and I've only just gotten it fixed last night! I am sorry to say that even if my computer was not broken though, I would have been delayed in writing because of work. But tomorrow I return to uni and will have more time to write new chapters!**

 **Please excuse this chapter if it does not seem up to pare with the others. I am still getting back into the swing of things!**

 **xx**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **All characters, items and places mentioned in the story moving forward are the creation and copyright of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I am in no way taking credit for any of them.**

* * *

Pansy stared anxiously across the library table at Draco, who kept his head bent while his quill moved across his parchment. She drummed her fingers on the table top over and over again, biting her lip and watching him closely. He had insisted on coming down to the library to finish his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay before they could begin celebrating the holidays and their break.

Blaise, who had still yet to speak more than a handful of words to either of them, though he did find it in himself to sit with them during meal times again, had changed his mind about staying at Hogwarts and had gone home for the holidays on special request. Pansy couldn't say she blamed him; she was quite certain his late departure had something to do with Draco.

The past few days leading up to Christmas Eve, Draco had carried with him an air so cold, it was a wonder Pansy could stand to be around him for longer than a few minutes. He was particularly vicious to any younger students who got in his way, and twice he punched a suit of armor what seemed to be completely randomly, though Pansy thought it was odd that every time he had done it, Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger had just passed out of sight. He was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any minute, and Pansy jiggled her leg anxiously as she sat across from him.

Suddenly, Draco's pale eyes shot up to look at her with an annoyed grimace. "Pansy. Stop. Tapping."

Pansy's fingers stilled instantly and she slumped back into her seat. "Why did I have to come too Draco? I've already finished my assignments," Pansy said, for the umpteenth time. The library was deserted save for the two of them and old Madam Pince, who wandered about the aisles looking for stray students to yell at.

An ugly expression overcame Draco's features and Pansy instantly knew she had said the wrong thing.

"Want to run off with Potter then, do you?"

The subject of Pansy and Harry had suddenly become very sensitive with the arrival of Viktor Krum, and Hermione giving the Bulgarian her full and undivided attention. Though, according to Harry, the two were never alone when they came to the common room or to the Great Hall, and so they couldn't possibly have done anything together, besides have a snog in a deserted corridor. This information, however, seemed to both please and aggravate Draco even more.

"I'm not meant to meet up with Harry until later, and you know that Draco," Pansy spat, unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. It was Draco who had invited Krum to the castle in the first place, this was his own fault. Though Pansy had been unable to say this to his face. He was so miserable lately that Pansy didn't have the heart to add to his pain. "I'm just bored."

Draco stared down at his essay for a long moment before finally he rolled it up and stuffed it angrily back into his bag. For a long time, the two of them merely sat there, gazing around at anything but each other. That's when Pansy heard it. Light footsteps filling the corridor outside the library, followed by a familiar voice.

Pansy saw Draco stiffen and her eyes instantly shot over his shoulder to look towards the door. Sure enough, Hermione Granger rounded the corner into the library, carrying a large book in her arms. Pansy waited for a moment, eyeing the door wearily, but it seemed as though Hermione was quite alone. Perhaps she had just said goodbye to Krum outside the doors.

Draco seemed to sense Pansy's confusion, for he too turned to glance towards the door despite himself. When his eyes landed on only Hermione, he was instantly on his feet.

His sudden appearance seemed to falter Hermione's steps until she came to a stop a few feet away from them. They stared each other down for a long moment, Pansy watching awkwardly from the background, and it seemed as though Draco might say something. His pale lips parted but nothing came out.

Hermione eyed him carefully, as though he might attack her, before she slowly resumed her brisk walk towards the back of the library. She passed their table and Draco glanced down at the floor, looking contemplative and angry, before he suddenly grabbed up his bag and started away, not towards the back like Pansy had thought to confront Hermione, but towards the doors.

Pansy watched him leave before she pursed her lips together and stood up.

* * *

"Hermione's been giving Krum the slip more and more lately," Harry said, his feet crunching over the snow as he walked down the trail to Hogsmeade after lunch with Pansy at his side, her arms looped casually around his bicep.

Pansy stared around at the deserted grounds, feeling slightly guilty but also certain that she had done the right thing.

"She'll go and talk to him," she said firmly, as they walked past the impressive iron-wrought gates and down a side street, where the little village of Hogsmeade could be seen just a few feet down a small hill.

Harry seemed to be struggling with something as she said this and Pansy waited for him to speak. He didn't until they had already passed into Hogsmeade and were halfway to the Three Broomsticks before he pulled to a sudden stop. Pansy let go of his arm and turned to look at him, already guessing what he was about to say.

"Do you think you should have told her? I mean," Harry seemed to grope for the right words, rubbing his gloved hands together. Pansy crossed her arms over her chest against the chilly breeze.

"You mean, do I think I made the right decision, leading Hermione back to Draco?"

Harry looked guilty for a moment before he pressed on, "I know he was cleared of his charges. I know the war is over. But," Harry faltered when he saw Pansy shaking her head, looking shocked and a little disappointed.

"The war _is_ over, Harry." Pansy eyed him carefully, and he looked like he wanted to say a lot more but was keeping it back. "I know who Draco is," she started slowly, "I've been around him my whole life. I know how he is. I know he can be childish and stubborn, and his family was one of the most prejudice, but Harry," Pansy's tone suddenly became pleading, "He's not an awful person."

Harry turned his away from her to stare around the darkened windows of some closed shops on the street. He wanted to remind her that she didn't use to be a brilliant person either, but he kept that to himself, knowing full well it would only hurt her. But he couldn't keep the nagging suspicion away that Draco was only using Hermione for some sort of joke.

Finally, after a long pause, Pansy touched his arm and jerked her head towards the Three Broomsticks.

"Let's go inside and have a pint. It's really cold out."

Harry nodded and started towards the pub, Pansy following beside him.

* * *

A pounding on the door drew Draco from his light slumber. His pale eyes popped open to stare at the ceiling of the Slytherin common room. He waited, listening, to see if perhaps he had dreamed the noise, his heart racing a little in his chest.

It came again a few seconds later. Three, quick and hard poundings on the door. Draco heard the snake outside hiss with annoyance and he sat up instantly, gazing around the room. It seemed as though Pansy had left to go to Hogsmeade with Harry when he was asleep, and he was otherwise alone.

Pushing himself to his feet, he crossed the vast room towards the door and pulled it open.

He stilled instantly at the sight of Hermione Granger standing in front of him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes narrowed dangerously. He instantly checked his back pocket to feel for his wand as Hermione stomped into the room, stopping uncomfortably close and gazing up at him.

"Why would you do that?" she yelled, her voice echoing off the concrete walls of the common room. Draco winced before he glared down at her, suddenly angry at her anger.

"I have no idea what you're talking-"

"Oh save it," she spat and Draco's eyebrows leaped up in surprise. She pointed a finger at him, jabbing him in the chest and forcing him to take a step back. Hermione thought she saw his lip twitch a little, like he was suppressing the urge to laugh at her. "I know you sent that letter to Viktor inviting him to Hogwarts over break."

Draco's blood chilled and he turned his back on her, walking back towards the leather couch he had been snoozing on. He didn't get very far before suddenly Hermione was behind him, shoving him hard in the back. He stumbled forward a step before he turned on her, glaring. Her cheeks were flushed even more and the dark lighting of the common room made her eyes glow in the green fire in the fire place.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded again, her hands gripping into fists by her sides. She seemed too angry to remember that she was a skilled witch who could physically harm him with magic.

Draco pulled himself to his full height, trying to look haughty and indifferent.

"I thought it would be a funny joke," he spat, though he thought his voice sounded a bit feeble. Hermione blinked up at him, evidently thinking the same thing.

"A funny joke?" she repeated him, her eyes growing wide.

Draco shifted but didn't say anything, glaring down at her. Hermione let out a dry laugh before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I sent him home."

Draco blinked and he tried hard not to let the overwhelming feeling of happiness overcome him. He tried so hard actually that he didn't notice she had stepped towards him until she was standing directly in front of him.

"Why?" he asked, trying not to appear like he cared at all.

"Because I didn't want to spend break with him," Hermione said boldly, gazing up at him. Draco felt like there was more meaning behind that sentence than she was letting on, and he felt his cheeks heat up instantly before he turned away from her again, desperately trying to get a hold of himself. Then it occurred to him. He turned back to look at her, his eyebrows pulled together.

"How did you know I sent him the letter?"

Hermione didn't say anything and Draco instantly knew. Pansy had told her.

Feeling a fresh wave of anger over take him, Draco turned and started towards the boy's dormitory. He hadn't gotten two steps before Hermione's voice rang out behind him and stilled him in his tracks.

"You really think that you could decide who I gave my virginity to?"

Draco didn't know what to look at or what to say. He groped for something intelligent but nothing came to him. He could sense Hermione standing behind him without turning to look at her, and when her fingers touched his arm he didn't move at all.

"What if I _wanted_ … to be with you?"

Draco ripped his arm away suddenly, turning to glare at her over his shoulder. "We already discussed this," he spat, feeling suddenly very warm. "You don't want to."

"What if I changed my mind?" Hermione said stubbornly, glaring up at him. Draco turned on her so fast that she nearly stumbled backwards.

"You didn't."

"What if I did?"

"Granger," he sighed heavily, running a frustrated hand through his hair, trying to look anywhere but her face. "It's not," he paused and hesitated before pressing on, closing his eyes against the force of the words, "It's not a good idea."

Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes. "You think you can use that against me?"

Silence passed between them and Draco opened his eyes and looked at her. He had not been this close to her since before exams had started and he felt his body react boldly to her presence now. Her eyes never wavered from him and Draco didn't know what to do with himself.

It happened very slowly. He could have had plenty of time to stop it, but he didn't.

Hermione took a hesitant step towards him, so close that he could practically feel her through his robes, before she reached up and pressed her lips against his. He didn't react at first, waiting for something to happen. But then she kissed him again, a little harder, and he felt it crumble away from him.

His arms reached around and pulled her to him and she collapsed against him without a fight. Her hands moved up his arms, around his neck, in the wisps of his hair and he couldn't remember where he was. He forced her backwards and her knees hit the couch and she sat down, gazing up at him with a light in her eyes that Draco knew had nothing to do with the fireplace beside her.

He reached his hands over his head and pulled his sweater over his head. The static clung to his hair but he gave it no thought as he leaned down, catching her lips against his and pushing her onto her back. She never once told him that this was a bad idea, or that they could be caught. She didn't speak at all as Draco's hands dipped under her shirt and pulled it off over her head.

He tossed it aside carelessly, his lips moving down and grazing against her stomach, her ribs, over the fabric of her bra. Hermione gasped quietly when his lips found her a sweet spot between her collarbone and breasts.

Suddenly her hands were tugging at his shirt and everything seemed to speed up. It was off and on the floor before he had much time to think, and her lips trailed down his chest and over his stomach, stopping at the belt of his pants. Her small fingers tugged at his belt and Draco's groin gave an involuntary lurch that he tried desperately hard to ignore.

He pushed her shoulders back down, prolonging the undoing of his pants as he leaned down and attacked her neck with his lips and teeth.

A noise echoed somewhere out in the corridor and both of them froze instantly. They listened as footsteps echoed off the walls outside, drawing closer and louder to the door of the Slytherin common room and, miraculously, passed right by it before continuing away and then disappearing all together.

Hermione made a noise, something like a giggle, and Draco's lips curved into a giddy smile against her neck before her hands were back on his belt and he lost all sense of where he was again.

His belt came away without much of a fight and that's when Hermione hesitated. Draco could sense it when he looked down at her, red-faced and breathing heavy underneath him. Her eyes scanned over his face and her hands were still against his hips. He felt like he had to ask. It came out of him before he realized what he was saying.

"Are you sure?"

A beat passed between them where they both tried hard to recognize who they were tangled up in on the leather couch in the Slytherin common room. Hermione gave a little nod, her fingers sliding tentatively into the waist of his slacks.

Draco licked his lips and hesitated before he leaned down and caught her lips with his again. His hand moved slowly between her legs, sliding across her inner thighs, and passing over her underwear. She took a breath but did not stop him, and he tugged off her skirt.

He could feel her uncertainty radiating through him. It only had just dawned on him that she had no idea what she was doing, and that for once, he might know more about something than Hermione Granger. Though he didn't particularly gloat this fact to her. At least not yet.

His lips left hers and moved down her throat and chest, stopping momentarily at her concealed breasts, before moving lower, over her stomach and down to her thighs. Hermione made a little noise like a squeak and Draco's eyes raised to look at her. Her cheeks were so red and she refused to make eye contact with him, her fingers clutching at his pale shoulders.

He lowered his head and pressed his lips against one of her thighs before muttering against her feverish skin, "Granger, relax."

She instantly obeyed him and Draco felt a rush of excited power run through him. His fingers reached up and tugged at the bands of her underwear, pulling them down over her legs and discarding them on the floor with the rest of their clothes.

He could literally feel her shaking against him and he instantly pulled himself up to hover over her, touching her cheek with his and bringing her lips to him. She relaxed against him now that his face wasn't so close to her and he made a mental note to himself that she was not ready for anything like that yet.

Her fingers found his waistband again and this time he let her tug his slacks down his thighs.

He found himself suddenly naked and looking down at her. She seemed embarrassed by this fact and could hardly look him in the eyes, but found it impossible to look away when he leaned his forehead against hers.

She could feel him hard against her thigh and felt anxious and nervous, and perhaps even a little excited. His eyes were looking at her, asking her again if she was sure without ever making a sound, and Hermione found herself nodding again.

It happened so suddenly. The pain that spread through her when he pressed himself into her. Hermione stiffened and Draco stilled and their eyes caught again before he quickly moved his hips away from her again.

"Is that-"

"Yes," Draco replied quickly, his own cheeks flushing a deep red. Obviously he had never had to sit, mid-sex, and explain to someone how it worked before. "It," he stopped, hesitated, and started again, "It'll hurt the first time."

Silence passed between them where Hermione took a breath before she nodded again, this time looking determined.

"Okay," was all she said.

Draco hesitated again before he lowered his head and pressed his lips against her neck. She was momentarily distracted by the soft feel of his tongue and teeth, and she instantly knew that he was trying to distract her when he pressed into her again. The pain came and she grit her teeth, clutching at his back with her nails. And then he stopped and Hermione stilled and she knew that he was inside of her. Her cheeks flushed deeper at this thought and she was thankful that he did not look at her again as he slowly came out and went back in again.

He was slow and his mouth did not stop its work on her neck and jaw, and before Hermione could register that the pain was gone, she was overcome by a sudden feeling of pleasure and haste and pressure.

He sped up and it didn't hurt anymore and Hermione felt her head fall back against the leather of the couch, closing her eyes. She was grateful she did, as Draco lifted his head and watched her while he moved.

It lasted only a minute before suddenly his head collapsed on her shoulder and he hips bucked forward and his breath halted all together.

They fell together in a bundle of limbs and sweat and heavy breathing, and Hermione finally found the courage to open her eyes again and look at him. He raised a hand to his hair and pushed it off his forehead before his eyes locked with hers.

Hermione couldn't help it, she gave an involuntary giggle. Draco's eyebrow shot up defensively, his shoulders raising and falling quickly.

"What?"

Hermione shook her head quickly from side to side.

"What?" he persisted.

Hermione shrugged, biting her lip. She didn't know how to tell him that she had never imagined to see him like this, naked and sweaty and looking at her with his hair a mess and his eyes lit up.

"You look…" Hermione hesitated, feeling her own embarrassment soar through her before she mumbled out quietly, "Cute."

Draco seemed to regard her for a moment before he pushed himself up level with her and pressed his lips against hers.

* * *

Pansy stopped instantly when she entered the Slytherin common room, her eyes landing on a huddle of figures under a blanket on the leather couch. She couldn't help the little triumphant smile that passed over her lips when she recognized Draco's bright hair contrasting sharply against Hermione's brown.

His eyes groggily popped open to look at her and Pansy waved a little dismissive hand at him when he seemed ready to get up. He hesitated a moment before his head fell back down and his eyes closed and this time Pansy smiled widely at him.


End file.
